October 14, 2022
While the government says exports to Iraq are rising, the Iran-Iraq Joint Chamber of Commerce says that is false. Jahanbakhsh Sanjani, head of the chamber, told the Iranian Labor News Agency that exports to Iraq in the first five months of this Persian year were down 8 percent in value and down 28 percent in weight compared to the same period last year. He said the main reason for the drop was the end of subsidized dollars for importing raw materials. Dollars had cost importers only 42,000 rials each until last spring. When the price went up seven times overnight, the price of Iranian goods made from those imported raw materials soared and many customers stopped buying Iranian goods.