Iran’s economy is growing, but its rate of growth has been declining all this year, according to Central Bank figures.
The Central Bank announced the growth rate for the third quarter of the Persian year last week.
Putting that side-by-side with its earlier growth rate announcements shows the slowing down of the economy.
Spring quarter 4.6 percent
Summer quarter 3.7 percent
Autumn quarter 2.8 percent
Iran was in a deep recession and showed negative growth in both of the preceding two Persian years. So, it is good news for the regime that growth is positive, even if the declining rate is worrisome.
Iran’s growth rate is also better than the US growth rate, which was announced last month as an annualized 2.2 percent for the fourth quarter of 2014, roughly equivalent to Iran’s third or autumn quarter.