Economy of Iran

Iran's President Hassan Rouhani defended his economic record in a press conference on April 10 but stopped short of formally announcing his candidacy for next month's presidential election.

Rouhani rejected criticism from conservatives over his economic performance, saying he had overseen measurable improvements in agriculture, health care, energy and internet coverage.

Greek banks have seen liquidity of about 4 billion euros flow out of the local credit system since the start of the year.

Some 52 billion Turkish Liras ($14.3 billion) in loans and credit card debts were restructured in Turkey in September 2016, said the head of a top sector association, adding that this was a huge figure and that the sector achieved a great success by implementing the restructuring.

Bank deposits are at their lowest levels since 2001, according to the Bank of Greece (BoG). The figures released by the BoG revealed that deposit outflows of Greek depositors amounted to 1.567 billion euros in January. The amount of deposits in December of 2016 were up by 2.972 billion euros.

US President Donald Trump's fresh sanctions against Iran have prompted India to review its crucial connectivity project in West Asia - the Chabahar port.

Iran has imposed no restrictions on U.S. oil firms willing to participate in energy projects in the country but American sanctions make such cooperation impossible, Iran's deputy oil minister said on Feb. 6.

Greek private sector bank deposits registered a drop in December after rising in the two previous months, central bank data showed on Friday, with the fall attributed to statistical counting changes.

Business and household deposits fell by 3.42 billion euros, or 2.7 percent month-on-month, to 121.38 billion euros, their lowest level since July 2003.

The Bank of Greece reported 2016 full-year profit of 1.09 billion euros, down from 1.16 billion euros a year ago.

The central bank said that 1.08 billion euros will be transferred to the Greek government in accordance with the bank's statute.

The year is ending on a positive note for Greek banks as, according to credit sector officials, the amount of deposits in the local system increased by about 500 million euros in November, while December is expected to fetch an additional 2 billion euros into bank accounts.

Two statements, one after the other, came on the day the Russian Foreign Ministry announced the "Syria Summit" to be held together with Turkey and Iran. 

The first one was from the United States, which said economic sanctions applied to Russia after the Ukraine crisis were expanded, adding seven more Russian citizens and eight companies to the U.S. Treasury's list.