Iranian annual trade hits US$150 billion despite sanctions

Despite sanctions imposed by UN, EU and U.S. on Iran over its nuclear program, the country’s annual trade amounted to US$150 billion for the recently concluded Iranian calendar year on March 20.

Iranian Deputy Industry, Mining, and Trade Minister Mojtaba Khosrotaj said that although official data on Iran’s annual trade has not been published, but non-oil trade is estimated to hit US$105 billion in the past year.
Taking oil and service sectors into account, the country’s foreign trade will exceed $150 billion, he added.
This performance shows significant abilities of the Iranian nation that managed to achieve US$150 billion business with the world despite sanctions.
The official said there are concerted efforts to increase the country’s value of annual non-oil exports by 20 percent to US$60 billion during the ongoing Iranian calendar year.
In December 2014, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the government aimed at increasing non-oil exports to US$50 billion by the next calendar year.
Traditionally, Iran relies heavily on oil for revenue. With sanctions restricting oil exports, the government is working to improve other parts of the economy.
Iran’s non-oil exports witnessed nearly half-a-percent growth while the country’s non-oil imports dropped around five percent in the previous Iranian calendar year. 
Another remarkable feat is that over 12.3 million tons of goods were transited via Iran in the previous Iranian calendar year, which ended on March 20, 2015.

Transit of goods via the country rose by 6.5 percent in Iranian calendar year (March 2014 to March 2015) compared to the year before quoted Iranian Roads Maintenance Organization official Mohammad Javad Atrchian.
The transited consignments mostly consisted of fuel, construction materials, home appliances, cotton and vehicles. Shahriyar Afandizadeh, the Iranian deputy transport and urban development minister has said that Iran has the capacity to transit 40 million tons of goods annually.