The Embassy has read the article entitled "Iran's failing "Mullahnomics" (The Reporter, March 27) published in your esteemed newspaper.

The embassy, while appreciating your endeavor to write about the Iranian economy for the kind perusal of your esteemed Ethiopian readers, would very much like to forward some points. First and foremost, it is clear that esteemed newspapers like The Reporter, which have many readers, should be careful about impartiality and reliability of the sources they use. Secondly, as one of the major newspapers of the country, we expect you to carry out your own analysis and try to be balanced in your reporting than merely coping from websites. Moreover, you could have got more accurate figures if you asked the Embassy or at least you should have cross-checked your information with the Embassy.

Having said this, we would like to state some points concerning the real situation of the Iranian economy.

Unlike what was stated by Mr. Mortan, Iran's economy is not "almost totally controlled by political actors", but a mixture of central planning, state ownership of oil, village agriculture and private trading and service ventures. It is true that the economy is based on an Islamic economic system. The efforts in the application of Islamic banking, which is quite different from the usual banking system, has contributed a lot to the growth of the country's economy. The financial system is also based on the Islamic finance, which advocates appropriate handling, distribution and utilization of public money. This has contributed to the anti-corruption efforts. The economic infrastructure has been improving steadily over the past two decades.

The "writer" has claimed that Iran's economy is dysfunctional and failing. However, the real fact is that the economy is growing in a persistent way. It had continued its positive, robust trend in the year 2007-2008 with a real GDP growth rate of 6.6% as compared to the previous years 6.2%. Moreover, gross foreign exchanges reserves of the country had reached USD 82 billion in the year 2008.

In the effort to diversify its economy, Iran has developed bio-technology, nanotechnology and pharmaceuticals industry. As a result, it has become one of the leading countries of the Middle East in the fields of car manufacture and transportation, construction materials, home appliances, food and agricultural goods, pharmaceuticals, information technology. power and petrochemicals.

This in turn has enabled the country to export a total amount of 31.5 million tons of non-oil goods, with the value of 15,312,100,000 USD in the year 2007-2008 only. This shows 16% rise in value compared to that of the previous year. This figure has drastically risen in 2008-2009 to 18,146,000,000 USD, which is on 18.5% increase as compared to the 2007-2008 figures.

In 2008-2009 only, Iran's export value reached 100,572,000,000 USD while the import value was 68,533,000,000 USD. This implies a positive trade balance in favor of Iran with 32,039,000,000 USD. In the same year the GDP growth average period was 8.0%.

In addition to these progresses, it is worth mentioning that although most countries of the world suffered greatly by the recent world economic recession, Iran had managed through this trauma successfully. This could be a clear manifestation of the strength of the Iranian economy and the accuracy of its policy.

Witnessing 54% rises in its business and surpassing its targets, Export Guarantee Fund of Iran, as one of the most important supporters of Iran's export, played a satisfactory role leaving a business record of USD 382,000,000 cover of Iran's non-oil export in 2008. Credit guarantees business also showed a wonderful 809% sharp rise compared to the previous year, which helped exporters greatly in providing the securities required by local financers.

This is why recently the most direct investment is attracted to Iran. Many investors, especially from Turkey, are coming to Iran lured by the very viable investment atmosphere and incentives given by the government.
The Embassy would, therefore, kindly request the editor-in-chief to publish this brief response on the esteemed newspaper for the good understanding of his readers.