Economist sees sickly growth of 0.5% in 2009

The Economist magazine of
London estimates that
Iran’s economic growth in 2009 was a sickly 0.5 percent, down from a healthy 6.5 percent in 2008.  It  forecasts that growth will reach an anemic 2.9 percent in 2010.

These are just estimates at this point.  The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimates that Iran’s 2009 growth was 1.5 percent, still sickly but much higher than The Economist’s estimate of 0.5 percent.