The Economic Role of Petrochemical Industry in Iran


  •  Mansoor Maitah    
  •  Bassam Abdoljabbar    

Abstract

Iran’s economy is characterized by over dependence on the oil sector. Iran has been gradually growing into a centre for production of petrochemicals in the world. Petrochemical industry is one of the significant components of oil industry and is one of the principal industries in Iran which has an influential role in Iran’s economy. Although it is widely acknowledged that exports, particularly through manufactured components, play an important role as a potential source of economic growth. Hence, the aim of this research is to analysis the impact of petrochemical products export revenue on economic growth. Therefore the main objective of this research is the study of export-led growth hypothesis (ELG hypothesis) of Iran’s economy in the petrochemical industry by taking a time series data for the period of 1990-2010. It applies ordinary least square (OLS) method to investigate the relationship between gross domestic product, exports of petrochemical products, real exchange rate and inflation. The results of the study show that there is a positive relationship between export of petrochemical products and economic growth which validate export-led growth hypothesis in petrochemical industry while negative impact of inflation and real exchnage rate is observed.



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