TEHRAN, Aug. 16 (UPI) -- Around 70 percent of the goods imported into Iran were paid for with revenue earned through non-oil exports from the country, a minister said.
Iranian Minister of Industry, Mines and Trade Mehdi Qazanfari said Tehran was relying less on oil exports as a source of government revenue.
"During the first four months of the current year, 70 percent of payments for imports have been made by the foreign currency earned through non-oil exports," he was quoted by the semiofficial Fars News Agency as saying.
The Iranian calendar year begins in March. Qazanfari added that 10 percent of the national economy relies on oil revenue.
U.S. and European governments have targeted the Iranian oil sector with sanctions to block funding for the country's nuclear program, which Tehran says is peaceful.
In its monthly report for August, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries said Iran was one of the members attributable for a decline in the overall crude oil output from the cartel. Inflation in Iran, meanwhile, was more than 20 percent this year, according to the country's central bank.
