Iran will beat Western sanctions: IMF

International Monetary Fund (IMF) says Iran will manage to bring its inflation rate lower and boost its economic growth in 2013 in the face of Western sanctions imposed on the country.

In its semi-annual World Economic Outlook report, the IMF predicted a trade surplus for Iran in 2012 and the following year and suggested the Western bans on Iran’s oil will not be able to stunt the Islamic Republic’s economy, Reuters reported on Tuesday.

It also forecast Iran's gross domestic product (GDP) will shrink 0.9 percent this year after 2 percent growth in 2011, but will expand next year by 0.8 percent.

Iran's balance of trade in goods and services is also expected to see a surplus of 3.4 percent of GDP in 2012 and 1.3 percent next year, according to IMF projections.

The forecast suggests the sanctions will not face the Iranian economy with a crippling balance of payments crisis.

At the beginning of 2012, the US and the EU approved new sanctions against Iran's oil and financial sectors.

The embargoes aim to prevent other countries from purchasing the Iranian oil or transacting with the Central Bank of Iran.

Washington and the EU have declared that the bans are meant to force Iran to abandon its nuclear energy program, which they claim includes a military component.

Iran has vehemently refuted the allegation, arguing that as a committed signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty and a member of the International Atomic Energy Agency, it is entitled to use nuclear technology for peaceful purposes.