New data by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration (IRICA) showed  surplus in the country’s foreign trade over the past calendar year

IFIF public Relations-The latest customs figures reveal the country registered a trade surplus of $0.916 billion in the 12-month period ending over a week ago

The balance of trade (BoT) turned positive with exports tallying $42.415 billion, compared with $41.499 billion worth of imports

Although IRICA figures show a drop of more than 16% in exports, they register a record low volume in imports, 22.53%, compared to the previous year, hence marking an unprecedented score on the trade balance sheet

IRICA said Iran spent more than $12 billion less on foreign commodities last year, in comparison to the previous calendar year

Gas condensates, oil and petrochemical products constituted the major part of exports, while maize for cattle feed, wheat and rice were among the chief imports, the report added

China, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates, Afghanistan and India purchased more Iranian goods than other countries last year, while a fair share of Iranian imports came from China, the UAE and South Korea

Earlier this month, the Statistical Center of Iran announced that the economy grew 0.7% in the first nine months of the past calendar year

The center said in a report that the agriculture sector listed a growth of 3.2% while industries and services experienced negative growths of 1.2% and 0.3% respectively

Iran’s economy has seen a slow but steady growth after last July’s agreement with UN Security Council members plus Germany over Tehran’s nuclear program, which saw the partial removal of sanctions against the country earlier this year

Back in January, the World Bank predicted a major growth rate of 5.8% for the Iranian economy in 2016

The bank said Iran’s economic growth would be specifically encouraged by a surge in its oil production. It said crude output would increase by an estimated 0.5–0.7 million barrels per day (mbd) in 2016 up from the 2015 level of 2.8 mbd