Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 1
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
The Iranian government's withdrawal of $12 billion from the assets of the National Development Fund (NDF) has provoked more dissonance among the Iranian officials.
Safdar Hosseini, the chairman of the NDF has voiced his protest over the Iranian government's withdrawal of $12 billion out of the fund over the past five months, the Mehr News Agency reported on September 1.
Hosseini, also accused the Iranian Central Bank of illegal management of the fund's assets, according to the report.
The NDF is Iran 's sovereign wealth fund. It was founded in 2011 to replace the Oil Stabilization Fund. Based on Article 84 of the Fifth Five-year Socio Economic Development Plan (2011-2015), the National Development Fund was established to transform oil and gas revenues to productive investment for future generation.
The money will increasingly be deposited in domestic banks. Accordingly, 20 percent of the oil income is to be transferred to the National Development Fund and this percentage increase 3 percent annually until the end of the fifth development plan.
Early in May an Iranian MP Masoud Mirkazemi said that the government illegally took $4.1 billion out of the NDF in the last days of the previous Iranian fiscal year (which ended on March 20).
Additionally, on Jan. 30 another Iranian MP Mousareza Servati took to the parliament the issue of the drawing $5.3 billion out of the Central Bank money.
Edited by CN