Foreign Investment in Iran Nearly Doubles in 3 Months

IrInvestment an announced that the country has managed to record nearly a double increase in foreign direct investment (FDI) in the second quarter of the current year.

Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade reported on Wednesday that the value of approved FDI projects in the two sectors had increased by 89.8 percent between Late March and late June compared to the previous three-month period in 2018.

The report said the value of a total of 24 projects in those sectors involving investment from foreign individuals and entities had topped $554,400,000 in the period.

That comes against a figure of $292,100,000 for 19 industrial and commercial projects in the second quarter of 2018.

Faced with growing number of US sanctions on its oil industry, Iran has tried to attract more foreign investment as it seeks to increase its access to foreign currencies and help development projects proceed.

Iran’s Minister of Finance Farhad Dejpasand said last month that the total amount of FDI recorded in Iran until May this year stood at $3.5 billion.

Dejpasand said the country was eyeing to meet higher FDI targets at the end of the current Iranian calendar year in March, specially with a scheme to facilitate investments above $250,000.

He said Iran managed to collect around 1,090 trillion rials (more than $8 billion) worth of taxes in the 12-month period ending in March 2019, adding that the figure was around 10 percent higher than the government projections.

Dejpasand also said Iran is fully prepared to defuse US economic pressure a day after Washington imposed a new round of sanctions on Tehran.