Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), reported that according to the latest figures released by the Central Bank, gross domestic product growth in the first six months of the current year (from March 21 to September 22, 2025) once again entered negative territory, with economic growth including oil recorded at minus 0.6% and excluding oil at minus 0.8%.
The outlet wrote on Sunday, December 28, that among the main economic sectors, agriculture experienced negative growth of 2.9% and the industries and mining group recorded negative growth of 3.4%.
Price Of Dollar and Gold Surge to Unprecedented Levels in Iran
Tasnim emphasized that these figures stem from the continued recession in industrial production, energy constraints, declining investment, and rising cost pressures.
In recent months, intensified international sanctions, alongside the regime’s structural inefficiency and escalating energy and water crises, have placed heavy pressure on the country’s productive sectors, particularly agriculture and industry.
These conditions have led to a rising exchange rate and higher prices for essential goods, severely straining people’s livelihoods.
The state-run Mehr News Agency reported on November 30 that due to drought last year, wheat production in the country declined by more than 30%.
The decline in agricultural output has occurred alongside rising prices of products, including the price of bread.
Iran’s Statistical Center had previously announced that point-to-point inflation reached 52.6% in December, indicating an increase of 3.2% compared to November.
The officially announced inflation rate, due to the weighting factors applied by the Statistical Center to consumer groups, is viewed by many citizens and experts as not reflecting market realities.
Deepening recession in the construction sector
Tasnim further reported that six-month growth in the construction sector fell to minus 12.9%, indicating a deep and unprecedented recession in this sector.
This comes as, according to Tasnim, the construction sector is regarded as the “engine of employment and a driver for many industries.”
Quoting experts, the news agency wrote: “The sharp decline in construction is the result of a combination of reduced purchasing power, higher costs of construction inputs, high financing rates, and uncertainty about the future of the economy; factors that could continue to negatively affect economic growth.”
On October 13, the Research Center of Iran’s regime parliament, referring to falling behind the targets set in the country’s macroeconomic plans, announced that estimated growth in the first six months of the year (from March 21 to September 22, 2025) stood at minus 0.3%.
Positive growth in the oil sector
Tasnim went on to write that the oil group managed to record positive growth of 1.1% in the first six months of the year.
The IRGC-affiliated outlet added: “Although this growth is positive, it has not been able to offset the negative impact of other sectors.”
Donald Trump, the president of the United States, less than two weeks after taking office, resumed a new campaign of the “maximum pressure” policy against the Iranian regime that he had launched during his first term in the White House.
In just the first 100 days, his administration imposed a total of 17 rounds of sanctions related to the Iranian regime, targeting 40 individuals, 117 companies and entities, and 77 oil tankers.
These sanctions continued thereafter, and in the latest case, on December 18, the U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned 29 vessels as well as the companies operating them for their involvement in circumventing Iran oil sanctions.
The Trump administration’s actions in expanding sanctions against the Iranian regime have sharply increased the costs for Tehran of evading sanctions.
Over the past three months, Iran’s oil exports have remained at around two million barrels per day, although the United States has sought to limit Iran’s oil exports to 100,000 barrels per day, an effort that appears to have so far been unsuccessful.
