"The two great issues that the government has been grappling with were inflation and the recession. We have now finally managed to reduce the 40 percent inflation down to 17 percent," the Iranian president was quoted as saying by the Mehr News Agency.
Iran's economy contracted by 6.8 percent in 2012, according to Central Bank of Iran (CBI) estimates. However, recent statistics issued on Tuesday by the CBI showed positive trends, with four percent growth in GDP in the last six months.
Among achievements to-date, Rouhani listed progress in the oil and gas industry this year, adding that, "by the end of February 2015, 100 million cubic meters of gas will be added to our daily gas production."
Rouhani also commented on the sharp drop in oil prices over the past six months. He said that the current slump in oil prices is the result of a conspiracy orchestrated by certain unnamed countries but added that Iran is eager to overcome the challenge.
Iran ranks second in the world for natural gas reserves and fourth in crude oil reserves, according to the World Bank. Its economy relies to a great extent on the hydrocarbon sector.
Global oil prices have been declining over the last three months. In late November OPEC decided to keep production volumes unchanged, which made global oil prices slump even more.
