The spread of the coronavirus pandemic and restrictions imposed to contain it have caused a major boom in e-commerce in the country, said the head of Iran Center for e-Commerce Development (ICECD).

ICECD is affiliated to the Iranian Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade.

Ali Rahbari added the sector had grown by 236 percent since the infection began to spread in the country in late February, Press TV reported.

He noted that the value of e-commerce transactions in Iran had grown by over 103 percent year-on-year in late March to reach 4,230 trillion rials ($18.4 billion), of which nearly 2,960 trillion rials ($13.21 billion) had been processed through online payment gateways.

The official said the ratios of the values of nominal and real e-commerce activities in Iran to the country’s total gross domestic product (GDP) had increased by 50 percent and 40 percent, respectively, over the past calendar year (which ended on March 19).

He added the number of jobs in the domestic e-commerce sector had increased by 80 percent year-on-year in the same period, noting that employment in the sector currently accounts for 11 percent of total jobs in the Iranian economy.

Iran has 61,000 certified e-commerce businesses while the number of websites offering various services across the sector has topped 300,000, said Rahbari, adding that the number of e-commerce units in the country increased by 11 percent year-on-year in late March.

Over 42 percent of Iranian e-businesses are solely focused on sale of goods while the share of services sector is 34 percent, noted the ICECD head.

He added that the rest of the websites offer services in both categories.

Rahbari said social media outlets accounted for 68 percent of sales and services delivered through websites over the last calendar year, followed by mobile applications (26 percent) and messengers (six percent).