International Monetary Fund (IMF) announced that Iran would need oil at $195 a barrel next year to balance budget, Reuters news agency reported.
Hurt by tighter US sanctions, Iran - a key member of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) - is expected to have a fiscal deficit of 4.5% this year and 5.1% next year, the fund said in a report on Monday.
On Friday, international benchmark Brent crude closed trading at just above $62 a barrel.
Iran’s economy is expected to shrink by 9.5% this year, compared to a prior estimate of a 6% contraction, the IMF has said, but real gross domestic product (GDP) growth is expected to be flat next year.
“The estimate is that ... sanctions that were reintroduced last year and tightened this year, next year will not have an additional impact,” Jihad Azour, director of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, told Reuters.
A drop in the Iranian currency following the reimposition of sanctions has boosted annual inflation, which the IMF forecasts at 35.7% this year and 31% next year.
MA/PR