Baku, Azerbaijan, June 18
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
Iran is expected to receive some $8 billion worth of direct foreign investment by March 2017, Hossein Salimi, member of the Iranian Committee of International Chamber of Commerce, forecasted.
He said the Iranian administration had authorized direct foreign investments worth $2.5 billion only during the current Iranian calendar month (started May 21), Mehr news agency reported June 18.
It is an unprecedented record for the country, as direct foreign investment in certain years in the past hardly reached $2.5 billion, Salimi said.
According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Iran’s annual inward FDI (foreign direct investment) was $2.408 billion on average during 2005-2007, while this figure for 2011-2014 was $3.523 billion.
Iran’s total inward FDI from 1995 to 2011 was a little over $33 billion, according to the UNCTAD.
Ahmad Jamali, director general of the Foreign Investment Office at the Organization for Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran, earlier announced that the Iranian administration authorized $7 billion worth of foreign investments following the removal of the international sanctions in January.
He added that at least 100 investment plans have been approved by the Iranian administration in recent months.
Earlier in February, Iranian Deputy Minister of Economy Mohammad Khazaei said Tehran considers luring $25 billion worth of foreign investments, to spend them on the country's development projects.