October 14, 2022
The World Bank has lowered its forecast for economic growth in Iran this year by almost a full percentage point since its previous estimate four months earlier.
On October 5, the World Bank projected that Iran’s gross domestic product for 2022 would rise by an anemic 2.9 percent. In June, the Bank had forecast growth at 3.7 percent.
It wasn’t clear if the slower growth projection was attributable to the ongoing protests across Iran. The new estimate was issued 2-1/2 weeks after the disorders erupted and World Bank documents are normally published several weeks after the last data are collected, so the new estimate likely does not account for the impact of the protests.
The new projection estimated that Iran’s GDP growth would further decline to 2.7 percent in 2023.
In June, the World Bank said GDP growth would rise 3.7 percent this year because of “the waning of the pandemic and higher oil prices.”