Tehran, Iran, August 29
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
The Iranian government had planned to attract some $7 billion worth of foreign investment for the current fiscal year (March 20, 2016 to March 20, 2017), of which $4 billion has been realized so far, Economy Minister Ali Tayyebnia said.
“In my last week trip to China a memorandum of understanding was signed with China Development Bank, as a result of which $15 billion will be allocated to projects in Iran. There are another MoUs with a Chinese bank which comes with no ceiling,” he said, Mehr news agency reported August 29.
“These agreements have added up to some $70 billion…, but of course there are other ways to receive foreign investment, such as financing and lines of credit,” he said.
The Iranian administration had authorized direct foreign investments worth $5.168 billion for 66 projects following the implementation of nuclear deal last January, Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, the Iranian government’s spokesman, said on August 8.
The Islamic Republic has issued permissions for $2.95 billion worth of foreign direct investment in 38 projects from beginning of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 20), Nobakht said, adding that meanwhile the total foreign direct investment for Iran in the last fiscal year (ended March 20) stood at $6.7 billion for some 63 projects.
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.
Iran was expecting an ease in foreign banking ties after it was freed from sanctions in January. However, a set of primary US sanctions on Iran’s use of the US dollar have hampered efforts to engage in more open relations with the international market.