Financial Tribune - финансовая газета

20 Big Names Added to Divestment List The Iranian Privatization Organization has added 20 state and government owned companies to the list that the government plans to fully divest. According to a press release seen on the IPO website, the new candidates are refiners in Kermanshah, Khuzestan and Arak plus the giant Persian Gulf Star Oil Company, in which the government has a 17.9% stake. The list includes Esfarayen Industrial Complex, Esfarayen Lule Gostar Company, a steel tube firm, Jajarm Aluminum, South Aluminum Company, Azarbaijan Steel company, two steel companies in Baft and Meibod in Yazd Province, Kish Airlines, two mass construction companies affiliated to the Urban Regeneration Corporation, Sefidroud Agro and Livestock Company, Sugarcane & By-Products Development Company. financialtribune.com/node/114974 @fintribune

Rich-Poor Inflation Gap Widens The average annual inflation gap measured by the Statistical Center of Iran among income deciles stood at 7% in the fifth month of the current Iranian year (July 23-Aug. 22), up 1.2 percentage points from the previous month. The inflation gap in “food, beverages and tobacco” group among income deciles grew by 0.5 percentage points and that of “non-food and services” group declined by 0.1 percentage points compared with the previous month. The average goods and services Consumer Price Index in the 12-month period ending Aug. 22 increased by 46.5% for the first decile (those with the lowest income) and grew by 39.5% for the 10th decile (those with the highest income). financialtribune.com/node/114970 @fintribune

Tehran Shares Monday Mixed Tehran stocks ended mixed on Monday as large caps stumbled in choppy trade while a small caps advanced. The main gauge of Tehran Stock Exchange, TEDPIX, pared some early losses and retreated toward the flatline as the day drew to a close. The market cap-weighted benchmark ended 1,052 points or 0.07% higher to end trade at 1,445,139. The index is impacted largely by large caps. financialtribune.com/node/114976 @fintribune

Foreign Goods Transit Via Iran Increases by 31% in Four Months Atotal of 4.92 million tons of foreign goods transited from the Iranian borders during the first four months of the current year (March 21-July 22), registering a 31% rise compared with the similar period of last year, according to the spokesperson of the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration. “Shahid Rajaee Special Economic Zone registered the highest volume of transit among Iran’s border terminals with 1.73 million tons,” Rouhollah Latifi was also quoted as saying by IRNA. The zone was followed by Parvizkhan in Kermanshah Province with 582,000 tons (up 141%), Bashmaq in Kurdestan Province with 448,000 tons (down 30%), Bazargan in West Azarbaijan Province with 410,000 tons (up 9%), Sarakhs in Khorazan Razavi Province with 332,000 tons (down 40%), Bileh Savar in Ardabil Province with 245,000 tons (up 88%), Jolfa in East Azarbaijan Province with 217,000 tons (up 61%), Lotfabad in Khorasan Razavi Province with 150,000 tons (up 115%), Bandar Lengeh in Hormozgan Province with 137,000 tons (up 124%) and Mirjaveh in Sistan-Baluchestan Province with 107,000 tons (up 174%). financialtribune.com/node/114949 @fintribune

‘Home Appliance, Furniture’ Hit 35.8% in Annualized Inflation “Home appliances, furniture and their maintenance”, one of 12 groups of goods and services surveyed by the Statistical Center of Iran for calculating the Consumer Price Index, registered 35.8% in annualized inflation in the fifth month of the current Iranian year (July 23-Aug. 22). The Consumer Price Index of the group stood at 639.1 – up 2.4% against the previous month. It registered a year-on-year increase of 37.1%. The 12 groups of the basket of consumer goods and services surveyed by the SCI include "food and beverages" with a coefficient of 26.64%, "tobacco" with 0.59%, "clothing and shoes" with 4.78%, "housing, water, electricity, natural gas and other fuels" with 35.5% (highest), "furniture, home appliances and their maintenance" with 3.93%, "health and treatment" with 7.14%, "transportation" with 9.41%, "communications" with 2.87%, "leisure and culture" with 1.65%, "education" with 1.86%, "hotels and restaurants" with 1.44% and "miscellaneous items and services" with 4.18%. financialtribune.com/node/114950 @fintribune

Iran's CB: New Instant Payment System Making Headway The Central Bank of Iran says it expects growth in the use of its recently-unveiled instant interbank transaction network, known as Pol. Hamidreza Norouzi, the head of the Pol project, said the new system is currently processing an average of 9,000 transactions a day worth 2,170 billion rials. "This service is offered via almost 40% of bank gateways in the country," the Electronic Banking magazine quoted Norouzi as saying. financialtribune.com/node/114958 @fintribune

Iranian Steelmakers Suffered $5-6 Billion in Lost Profit Iranian steelmakers have suffered gas supply restrictions in winter in recent years, leading to a decline in output and at times the closure of many small- and medium-scale production lines. Collating the lost output with the global prices of last year, Vahid Yaqoubi, the deputy head of Iran Steel Association, said the steel industry suffered $5-6 billion in losses due to the gas outage, Mehr News Agency reported. In the winter (fourth quarter) of last Iranian year (Dec. 22, 2021-March 20), Iran faced a huge imbalance in gas production and consumption, and according to Oil Minister Javad Owji, there was a deficit of 200-250 million cubic meters of natural gas during the period. Although this imbalance did not cause outage for domestic consumers, it had remarkable consequences for large industries such as steel and petrochemicals. “In last year’s Q4, production did not decline in some plants because steelmakers such as Mobarakeh Steel Company are strategic, but on the other hand, new steelmakers and DRI production plants that started operations in the past few years were hard hit,” Yaqoubi said. financialtribune.com/node/114952 @fintribune

Afghans Among Stock Market Investors: CSDI The Central Securities Depository of Iran (CSDI), the capital market clearing house, says 3,490 trading codes have been issued for foreign investors so far. Most of these investors are from Afghanistan, it said. Afghans own 1,070 trading codes issued to foreign investors, accounting for more than a third of the non-Iranian codes. The CSDI estimates investment by Afghans to be around 2.77 trillion rials ($9.5 million), according to the YJC news website. financialtribune.com/node/114956 @fintribune

Tehran Stocks Slide 0.4% The main index of Tehran Stock Exchange, TEDPIX, shed 5,958.24 points or 0.41% on Sunday to end trade at 1,444,086. Sell-side pressure swept almost all shares as the TSE’s equal-weighted index, too, lost 0.4%. Unlike the TEDPIX, the index gives the same weight to all shares irrespective of their market cap. Retail trade plunged 18% from the session before to reach 33.87 trillion rials ($116 million). About 7.11 billion shares valued at 43.33 trillion rials ($149.4m) changed hands at TSE for the day. financialtribune.com/node/114959 @fintribune