Official: Iran and UK trade balance turned negative
“Despite U.S sanctions, small and medium-sized British companies related to companies of Iran have maintained their relationship with Iranian companies, working with them directly and indirectly,” The president of the British Iranian Chamber of Commerce (BICC) told ILNA.
Speaking to ILNA, the president of the BICC, Amir Houshang Amini said that the trade volume of Iran and UK has fallen sharply and According to figures released by Customs Administration, direct imports from the UK last year were about $ 1.2 billion.
“In this condition, Iran's exports to the United Kingdom stood at $ 30 million for the same period so Iran and the UK have a negative trade balance of $1 billion,” Economic analyst added.
He said that by comparing statistics for imports and exports of both countries, one can see Iran’s imports have been 26 times more than UK’s imports.
Referring to issuing visas for Iranian citizens, the president of the BICC said that now, there are no problems with visa-free business companies, although this has been compounded by increased flight costs and reduced number of flights.
The latest statistics which were released by Eurostat show that the trade volume of Iran and UK was around 69m euros in the first five months of 2019 and it shows 30 percent drop comparing to the same period in 2018.
The statistics claim that UK’s exports to Iran stood at 62m euros and it shows 26% drop comparing to the same period in the preceding year while Iran’s exports to UK stood at 7m euros, almost halved comparing to the preceding year.
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