Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec.30 /Trend, A.Yusifzade /
Iranian Economy and Finance Minister announced the amount of currency reserves of the National Development Fund worth $ 10 billion the first time for a year and a half.
The currency reserves of the Iranian National Development Fund hit $ 10 billion. According to the forecasts, they will increase by $ 14 billion by the end of this Iranian calendar year (it will end on March 21, 2011) given the current oil prices, Iranian Economy and Finance Minister Shamsaddin Husseini was quoted by ISNA as saying.
According to this report, the currency reserves of the Iranian National Development Fund totaled $ 13 billion the first time for a year and a half ago.
Earlier, Iranian Economy and Finance Minister Shamsaddin Husseini said that Iran has transferred 20 percent of this year's oil revenues to the Iranian National Development Fund.
"While the fund's status has not been approved, roughly 20 percent of the proceeds from oil sales have been transferred to the fund early this year. This is a significant indicator," Husseini said.
Husseini said that Iran is one of few countries boasting positive indicators to draw foreign investments, which showed a 95 percent growth last year.
"Last year, the growth of the index on the Tehran Stock Exchange hit 58 percent. We preserved the same level this year," the minister added.
Earlier, Iranian Oil Minister Massoud Mirkazemi said that Iran has established an energy fund backed by the Central Bank and other Iranian banks to help to finance investments in the sector, Reuters reported.
"The National Energy Fund, with the help of the resources of four local banks and the Central Bank, has been established to help to finance major parts of the oil industry's activities," IRNA news agency quoted Mirkazemi as saying.
"Several rounds of talks were held in this regard. It was approved by the president (Mahmoud Ahmadinejad)," he said.
The analysts said that Iran, the world's fifth-largest crude exporter, needs inflows of capital and more foreign investments to help to expand and modernize its all-important energy sector.
Mirkazemi said the fund would create an opportunity for both local and foreign firms to take part in Iranian energy projects.
"By using domestic resources we would create an opportunity for the presence of local firms in oil and gas projects, but at the same time we won't block attracting foreign resources," he said.
"It is necessary to invest in the country's oil and gas development projects, particularly in joint fields with the neighboring countries," Mirkazemi, who has not provided any figures, said.
It was not clear whether the energy fund would join a planned new National Development Fund (NDF), to which at least the fifth part of the country's oil and gas revenue would be transferred.
IRNA reported about the NDF, saying that its top priority would be invested to Iran and making clear that it would replace the existing Oil Stabilization Fund (OSF).
The OSF is a reserve fund was founded by the government in 2000 to preserve the economy from fluctuating international oil prices and help to both the public and private sectors with their needs in hard currency by extending loans.
The OSF forms a part of the Islamic state's foreign exchange reserves, but its amount and the total foreign exchange reserves are not regularly revealed to the public.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said in December 2008 that the OSF was worth over $23 billion.