Iran’s National Development Fund allocates $125M for scientific projects

Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.18

By Fatih Karimov - Trend:

Iran's National Development Fund has allocated $125 million for scientific projects.

The Cooperatives Bank of Iran is the acting bank to use the budget, Iran's ISNA news agency reported on October 18.

The bank's deputy governor Baqer Fattahi said in addition to the development of industries, the development of tourism has been prioritized, he added.

Assets of Iran's National Development Fund (NDF) by June 21 are valued at $64.8 billion, Iran's Mehr news agency quoted Safdar Hosseini, the chairman of the board of directors of the NDF, as saying on August 17.

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 NDF's reserves were around $54 billion when president Hassan Rouhani took the office last August," Hosseini added.

Some 23 percent of the revenues from the mentioned sources went into the NDF in 2013. This share will reach 32 percent by the end of 2016.