Iran five-year plan targets 8% growth

Iran aims for an annual growth rate of close to eight per cent until 2015 under a five-year plan which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presented to parliament.

But Iran Daily said that Ahmadinejad gave few figures to back up the 2010-2015 plan, which he submitted on Sunday based on an inflation rate of about 12 per cent.

Annual growth has been running close to five per cent over the past 15 years but fell to 2.5 per cent in 2009, according to official figures, which indicate inflation dropped to 13 per cent last year after skirting 30 per cent in 2008.

It said the forecast was based on a $65-a-barrel price for oil, which accounts for 80 per cent of Iran's exports. However, the country expects a drop of around 10 per cent in the oil sector's share of total exports.

Tehran plans to invest $20 billion (Dh7.34bn) a year up until 2015 to develop its oil and gas capacity, according to the paper, which said "foreign and private investments" would be invited to develop Iran's gas industry.

The investment aims primarily to boost the country's refining output, a sector in which Iran currently relies on imports for 11 per cent of consumption, according to the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

The target is self-reliance by 2015, Iran Daily said.

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