WB sees ‘economic windfall’ for Iran

Shantayanan Devarajan, World Bank’s chief economist for the Middle East and North Africa, has been quoted by the media as saying that the windfall could provide Iran with sustainable growth. That, however, depends on a proper planning on the part of Iran, Devarajan said.

"[We are] calling it an economic windfall, that’s a technical term in economics, which is a one-time increase in resources accruing to a country, and that’s what this is," he has been quoted as saying by Sputnik news agency.

Devarajan added that there are some "political ramifications" for the process, "which is why we [World Bank] very carefully called it an economic windfall."

In an August report on the impact of Iranian sanction relief, the World Bank advised Iran to invest its economic windfall in domestic infrastructure, and upgrading telecommunications in support of high technological, non-oil industries, Sputnik added.

In a speech at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Davarajan argued that the amount of money is less consequential than how Iran decides to use it.

“It really matters how you [Iran] manage this windfall, if it will create sustainable growth,” he said.
Iran and the P5+1 group of countries agreed after marathon talks that ended in Vienna last month over a set of measures to end years of disputes over the Iranian nuclear energy program. Based on what was agreed by both sides, the P5+1 will move to remove economic sanctions against Iran in return for certain measures by the country to restrict certain aspects of its nuclear energy activities.

/SR