Iranian budget planners look to trim oil revenues as President Hassan Rouhani makes progress on reducing inflation. Photo: UPI/Maryam Rahmanian Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the inflation rate has dropped from 40 percent under his predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to around 16 percent. “Economically speaking, as domestic and foreign opinion-makers have written to me, it has been like a miracle,” he said. For fiscal year 2013-14, the World Bank estimates the Iranian economy contracted at an annual rate of 1.7 percent. The Iranian economy emerged from recession in December, however, which was something the government said came as a result of heavy government investments in national development projects. Though its economy is dependent on oil export revenue, the government in early January said non-oil exports from the beginning of the Iranian year, which starts in March, increased to $35 billion, or about 20 percent year-on-year. Budget planners are working to […]