Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb. 5
By Fatih Karimov – Trend:
The Iranian administration authorized a $2.1 billion in foreign direct investment during the first eight months of the current fiscal year (started March 20, 2017), which is 57 percent less compared to $4.83 billion worth of projects approved by the administration in the same period of the preceding year.
The fall comes after the value witnessed a rise by 58 percent during the first half of the current fiscal year (March-September 2017) to $1.831 billion.
According to a report released by the country’s ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade, over 47 investment proposals, including 41 new projects were approved by Iran's Foreign Investment Board in the 8-month period, compared to 42 proposals in the first half of the last fiscal year.
Germany stood at the top of the list of approved investment projects with $720.87 million for construction of a production plant of photovoltaic panels.
During the mentioned period, statistics from the Iranian government put the Irish investors in second place with $466.155 million worth of investments for a mining extraction and exploitation project, followed by China with a $232.551 million.
The next place also belongs to Germany with a project for construction of two air separation units in Chabahar Free Trade–Industrial Zone (CFZ), south eastern Iran. The project, worth $165.8 million was authorized in October 2017.
Dutch investors also are at the top place with $102.056 million of investment for an online trade project. The Iranian partner of the Dutch side is Digikala, the biggest e-commerce startup in Iran.
Proposals submitted by investors from Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Austria, Italy, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Switzerland, France, the UAE, South Korea, Iraq and Cayman Islands have also been accepted as authorized projects.
According to the Iranian ministry, over 71 investment proposals (worth $5.06 billion) were approved by Iran's Foreign Investment Board in the last fiscal year (ended March 20). The value was $6.7 billion for the preceding fiscal year (ended March 2016), registering a big growth compared to $915 million in 2015, when the international sanctions against Iran were in place.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) statistics indicate that Iran attracted $3.372 billion foreign direct investment in 2016, compared to $2.05 billion in 2015.