TEHRAN - The International Monetary Fund (IMF), in its latest World Economic Outlook titled “Managing Divergent Recoveries”, predicted a 2.5-percent real gross domestic product (GDP) growth for Iran in 2021, up one percent from 1.5 percent in 2020.

The data presented in the IMF report indicates that Iran’s GDP growth has outpaced that of West and Central Asia which is reported to be – 2.9 percent in 2020.

The fund has also raised its forecasts of global growth to six percent in 2021, seeing it moderating to 4.4 percent in 2022.

According to the report, the projections for 2021 and 2022 are stronger than in the October 2020 report. The upward revision reflects additional fiscal support in a few large economies, the anticipated vaccine-powered recovery in the second half of 2021, and continued adaptation of economic activity to subdued mobility.

The international body sees Iran’s inflation (consumer price changes) at 36.5 percent in 2020, increasing 1.9 percent from its previous 34.6 percent in 2019.The report sees the country’s inflation fall to 27.5 percent in 2022.

As reported, the country’s current account balance which was – 0.7 percent of the country’s GDP in 2020 is expected to climb to 1.2 percent in 2021.

In its previous report published in October 2020, IMF had anticipated real GDP growth of 3.2 percent for Iran in 2021.

The international body’s report is highly uncertain about the path of the pandemic, the effectiveness of policy support to provide a bridge to vaccine-powered normalization, and the evolution of financial conditions.

EF/MA