Iran to create 41,000 manufacturing jobs until March: Minister

Iran’s caretaker minister of industries says tens of thousands of new jobs are planned to be created in the country’s manufacturing sector by March 2021.

Hossein Modarres Khiabani said on Saturday that a total of 200 new manufacturing projects worth 170 trillion rials (nearly $7.4 billion) will be fully launched by the end of the current Iranian calendar year.

Modarres said those “propelling manufacturing projects” will create more than 41,000 new jobs across Iran.

The caretaker minister added that that the government and the private sector are working on a total of 4,000 unfinished projects in the manufacturing sector with an eye to make them ready for use by August 2021 when the current administrative government leaves office.

Despite facing the mounting pressure of economic sanctions imposed by the US, Iran has managed to boost infrastructure investment through various financing measures.

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A main focus of the investment plans has been on developing Iran’s energy and manufacturing sectors as the government believes they can help the economy diversify away from oil and prepare it to recover more quickly once the American sanctions are eased.

Increased manufacturing output has helped the economy better cope with the sanctions over the past two years mainly through exports of various products to neighboring countries.

Modarres said Iran has a visionary plan to localize production of manufacturing machinery and equipment for which Iran spends over $3.2 billion each year in imports.

He said the country had managed to save around $300 million between March and July through local production for a series of equipment and machinery that used to be supplied by foreign companies.

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