Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani has replaced several senior economic
officials a week before U.S. sanctions against Tehran come into effect, Sputnik
reports, citing a statement by Rouhani from Sunday.
As part of the reshuffle, economist Farhad Dejpasand will take the helm of
the Ministry if Economics and Finance and will work with a new team to find
ways to weather the effect of the sanctions, which prompted the International
Monetary Fund to revise down its outlook for Iran for this year from a
4-percent GDP expansion to a 1.5-percent contraction. For 2019, the IMF has
forecast even deeper recession of up to 3.6 percent, versus an earlier
estimate for growth of 4 percent in 2019 as well.
Meanwhile, Tehran officials remain relatively upbeat: the country’s Vice
President Eshaq Jahangiri said this weekend, as quoted by IRNA, that
Washington will not be able to reduce Iranian crude oil exports to below 1
million bpd.
“During the past months [before US sanctions threat], Iran was exporting
2.5 million barrels of oil per day,” the VP said. “now maybe we are exporting
a few thousand barrels less, but we have always been determined that our oil
exports should not become less than one million barrels per day.”
Jahangiri’s comments suggest Tehran has been preparing for a certain
reduction in exports and higher oil prices—despite the recent slip on global
economic growth concerns—will help it mitigate the effect of the sanctions.
The government’s efforts, however, face an internal division, as
hardliners insist on greater self-sufficiency in the face of sanctions while
more moderate factions are for greater cooperation with the countries who
have opposed the sanctions, including the European Union, Russia, and China.
Rouhani himself has urged all factions to work together to deal with the
sanctions, but he is firmly in the moderates’ camp, urging for closer trade
contracts with allies.
By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com
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