MAGIC NUMBERS

July 29, 2022

The economic pages of Iran’s newspapers have been filled with stories about how trade is booming and the Raisi Administration is performing miracles.  For instance, in June the press quoted figures from Eurostat, the EU statistics agency, as showing Iranian imports from the EU had soared in the first four months of 2022.  However, no one pointed out that they are soaring from a very low base.

The chart above shows Iran’s imports from the EU for each year in the 21^st century, according to Eurostat.  The last three years have been by far the lowest three years of the century.  So, a big surge this year doesn’t mean much.

PressTV said Iran’s imports from the EU in the January-April period reached 1.67 billion euros, a rise of 37 percent from the same months last year.  The Financial Tribune said Iran’s imports from the EU had reached 1.67 billion euros in those four months, which it said was a 15 percent rise from the same period last year.