Iran’s external debt in 2018 down 6.5% on year: WB

World Bank (WB) in its latest report on global debts dubbed “International Debt Statistics 2020” has put Iran’s external debts for 2018 at $6.324 billion, down about 6.5 percent from $6.761 billion in 2017.

As per the data published by WB, Iran’s foreign debts decreased by $437 million in 2018 compared to its preceding year.

Based on the report, of the country’s total external debt at the end of 2018, $382 million was related to long-term debts, while $3.959 billion was the share of short-term debts, and $1.983 billion pertained to International Monetary Fund (IMF) credit lines.

The bank also reported the total foreign direct investment (FDI) in Iran in the past year at $3.481 billion, down 30 percent from the same period a year earlier.

In early September, Central Bank of Iran (CBI) published a report based on which Iran’s debts to foreign lenders in the end of the third Iranian month of Khordad (June 21, 2019) stood at $8.678 billion, showing seven percent decrease compared to the announced figure at the end of the past Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2019).

According to the data, of the total $8.678 billion, $6.969 billion was mid-term and long-term debts and $1.708 billion was short-term debts.

As reported, Iran’s foreign debts were $9.339 billion at the end of the past Iranian calendar year.

The country’s external debts stood at $8.816 billion at the end of the second Iranian calendar month of Ordibehesht (May, 21), the CBI data showed.

Back in July, CBI published a report saying that Iran’s foreign debt at the end of the last Iranian calendar year decreased nearly 17 percent compared to the figure for the preceding year.

The report indicated that of the country’s total external debt in the mentioned date, $7.187 billion was long and medium-term debt while short-term debt accounted for $2.151 billion.

External debt is the portion of a country's debt that was borrowed from foreign lenders including commercial banks, governments or international financial institutions. These loans, including interest, must usually be paid in the currency in which the loan was made.

source: Tehran Times