Speaking to ILNA, Mohammad Reza Mortezavi said that countries can survive without connecting to the world economic system but they cannot progress, adding that if investment and capital enters the country, its economy will undoubtedly move forward.

Reacting to the question that Lebanon rejected the corn cargo shipped from Ukraine due to contamination while Iran has announced readiness to buy grain especially corn from Ukraine and this may risk the food security of the country, Mortezavi said that definition of contamination for agro consignment is different from one country to another and Iran accepts a cargo with some certain percentage of contamination but some other countries may reject the very consignment.

He noted that condition for storing the grain in Ukraine is not favorable because the rate of humidity is high in Ukraine and the current condition makes it difficult to keep the consignments in good and healthy condition and there is possibility for them to get contaminated.

Mortezavi also said that Iran has imported some 1.8m tons of wheat by April while the country needs at least to import at least 4m tons more to meet its needs. He added that the legal strategic wheat reserve is 5m tons, adding that strategic reserves have been consumed in the past two years and the amount of wheat in the silos had declined to 1m tons before harvesting season began and if the country wants to recharge its strategic reserves, it needs to import at least 2m tons of wheat and therefore the country needs to import at least 6m tons.

On the slump in the price of wheat in the world, he said that if wheat and grains from Ukraine are loaded and shipped to the market, its price will slump more and the pressure on the world will be removed.

Touching upon this point that Turkey is becoming a hub for Russia’s grain in the region, Mortezavi said that Turkey sacrifices politics for its economic issues, and economic interests decide for Turkey to have friendly ties with which countries.

He added that Turkey’s national currency has lost its value by one-third in the past five years and its economy has been affected by the pandemic and its tourism revenues has been hit badly, and therefore the country takes advantage of any opportunity to boost its economy and improve the condition.

On the necessity of joining the FATF, he said that if Iran does not accept joining it, its economy will face serious challenges in the next three years, adding that if it is not accepted, the country will have problem for trade and deal even with friendly friends.

Mortezavi reiterated that removal of sanctions will have its positive effects on economy, adding that economies cam survive without connecting to the global economic system but it will be unable to progress, reiterating that the country needs arrival of foreign investment.

He reiterated that with a political rationality, Iran’s economy is one of the most apt economies in the world for growth of investment, adding that Europe needs Iran’s gas and Iran should expand its oil and gas resources in the framework of negative balance.

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Speaking in his presser and in response to a question on the new administration’s plan to develop economic ties with other countries within its first 100 days, Ali Bahadori Jahromi said Iran had attracted investment worth 280 million dollars during nearly four months.

Bahadori Jahromi added: “Despite sanctions, Iran, with its active diplomacy, succeeded at releasing its blocked foreign assets.”

He further highlighted Iran’s active foreign diplomacy, saying that the Raisi administration has gained promising results, including full membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), attending the 15th Summit of the Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO), and reaching an agreement signed on the gas swap.

He said that interacting with all countries, particularly the neighbors, is Iran’s priority.

The 2022 budget aims at controlling inflation, he said.

Also, he noted that the submitted budget plan intends to activate most of the private sectors.

The administration will complete all projects left undone and pursue eradicating poverty, the spokesman added.

Referring to Iran’s refineries, he said the budget plan intends to launch a refinery with 300,000 barrels of output per day, allocating 300 million dollars to develop the Abadan refinery to provide gas and increase export.

Highlighting the coronavirus mutations, he urged all people to observe the hygienic protocols still, though Iran has been successful in the nationwide vaccination.

On Vienna talks, he said Iran has a correct narration of the Vienna Talks, adding that all suggestions have been made in the framework of previous negotiations, adding that government is serious for removing illegal and cruel sanctions.

He referred to West as imposer of sanctions, saying those who leave the negotiating table will not be interested in presenting a correct narration of the negotiations and will use any tool to present false narrations.

If the West is after lifting sanctions, negotiations will be successful, he noted.

All suggestions made by the negotiating team are in the framework of the previous negotiations, Bahadori Jahromi said.

He said that in line with good interaction with neighbors, $268m worth of Iran assets were unfrozen.

Referring to positive messages from the Persian Gulf states, he lauded the Iranian government’s success with regard to foreign diplomacy.

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IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK

TEHRAN – Chairman of the Iranian and Foreign Joint Venture Investments Association says Iran could have attracted foreign investments between 40 to 50 billion dollars annually but due to the sanctions, lack of communication, lack of trade trust, adding that the condition for foreign investment is not favorable.

Speaking to ILNA, Seyed Hossein Salimi talked about the Iran-Europe Business Forum which was supposed to be held on Monday but was postponed, and said in such forums and gatherings the latest information about the condition for investment is presented for those who are eager to invest in Iran. He added that such meetings and presentation of information can allure companies and investments and this forum could have good output for the country which was unfortunately postponed due to some reasons. He said those economic activists who are willing to work with Europe and European counterparts are the main losers of such postponements.

On the current condition of attracting foreign investment and significance of such forums, he said this forum could have positive impact on foreign investment, adding that if the foreign investments in other countries are around 40 to 50 billion dollars or in Turkey it is around $20b, it is around $3b annually in Iran which is an insignificant figure.

Salimi noted that Iran is among the top countries in the world in gas and electricity sectors and the country has many skillful workforces ready to work. He added the country could have attracted annual foreign investment of 40 to 50 billion dollars but sanctions, lack of communication and above of all lack of trade trust have made the condition unfavorable for foreign investment.

He also called for resolving domestic problems regarding investment because instability in laws and regulations make the investors to snub investment, and for this reason economic stability and stability in regulations is necessary for investment.

Salimi reiterated when a foreign investor even in India learns that laws and regulations in Iran do not last more than one year, he is reluctant to investment.

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IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK

TEHRAN – Iran attracted $2.351 billion of foreign investment during the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-August 21), up 97 percent compared to the same period last year, Finance and Economic Affairs Ministry data showed.

According to the mentioned data, $1.189 billion of foreign investment had been attracted in the country during the first five months of the previous year.

Also, in the mentioned period the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade approved 81 projects with foreign investment, compared to the 51 cases in the previous year’s same five months.

Based on the Finance and Economic Affairs Ministry data, in the mentioned period 590 cases for foreign investment were assessed among which 192 cases had the necessary standards.

Back in October, Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Farhad Dejpasand announced that over $3.8 billion of foreign investment was attracted in the country during the first half of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-September 21).

“Foreign investment acts as a window through which technology, employment, and production enter, so the executive bodies should make their most effort to attract foreign investment,” Dejpasand said.

Dejpasand also said that Finance and Economic Ministry has outlined a plan for facilitating and expediting the attraction of Iranian expatriates’ investment, based on which some incentives and guarantees will be allocated to those investors.

The minister said Iran minimized the effects of the enemy’s economic war by adopting the necessary measures coupled with people’s rapport and cooperation.

According to the finance minister, materializing the motto of “Surge in Production” requires an investment of 7-10 quadrillion rials (about $166.6-$238 billion), and the attraction of foreign investment can play a significant part in this regard.

Meanwhile last week, Government Spokesman Ali Rabiei noted the lifting of sanctions will also contribute to a growth in foreign investment.

“With the easing of ‘maximum pressure’ and lifting of cruel sanctions and with Trump gone, the presence of foreign firms and willingness to invest in Iran will rise,” said the spokesman.

He said foreign companies have recently increased their contacts requesting to open offices in Iran.

Rabiei underlined the companies which have already been present in the country will have more opportunities to expand their activities.

The current Iranian calendar year (began on March 20) is named the year of “Surge in Production” by the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.

It should be considered that the trend of strengthening domestic production has been started in Iran a couple of years ago, as the country is determined to nullify the U.S. sanction on its economy through boosting production to reach more and more self-reliance.

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TEHRAN (Iran News) – Foreign direct investments (FDI) in Iran increased by 50 percent during the first 10 months of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2019-January 20, 2020) compared to the same period last year, Iranian Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Farhad Dejpasand announced.

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As defined by Investopedia, “An investment fund is a supply of capital belonging to numerous investors used to collectively purchase securities while each investor retains ownership and control of his own shares. An investment fund provides a broader selection of investment opportunities, greater management expertise and lower investment fees than investors might be able to obtain on their own. Types of investment funds include mutual funds, exchange-traded funds, money market funds and hedge funds.”

Given that liquidity has recently reached its highest level in Iran, while the society is experiencing an increasing trend of inflation, many people are concerned about their money losing the value.

According to the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), Iran’s liquidity stood at 19.979 quadrillion rials (about $475.69 billion) during the third month of the current Iranian calendar year, Khordad (May 22-June 21). The figure shows 25.1 percent growth in comparison with the same period in the preceding year.

And the Statistical Center of Iran has announced that the inflation rate in the twelve-month period ended on August 22, which marks the end of the fifth Iranian calendar month of Mordad, stood at 42.2 percent, indicating a 1.8-percent rise from the figure of the twelve-month period ended on the last day of the previous month and a 41.6-percent rise compared to the same month of the past year.

Under such condition, investment funds with the advantage of low investment risk and high market liquidity lay a proper ground for investment making.

It’s a decade that investment funds have started activity in the Iranian capital market under the supervision of Iran’s Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO).

According to the data released by Financial Information Processing of Iran (FIPIran), a subsidiary of Tehran Securities Exchange Technology Management Company (TSETMC), some 200 investment funds have been active in the country during the past decade and the value of investment made by the real and legal entities through these funds has reached 1.6 quadrillion rials (about $38.095 billion) something that equals 10 percent of liquidity in the country.

While the advantages offered by the investment funds incentivize the investors, capital market is also laying the ground for more activity of these funds in its different markets.

During a press conference held at the place of Iran’s over-the-counter (OTC) exchange market, known as Iran Fara Bourse (IFB), on Saturday on the recent amendments made in the regulations of the IFB base market, Amir Hamooni, the managing director of IFB, said these amendments will make it possible for two more types of investment funds to enter the base market.

To attract more investors to these funds, SEO is also investigating their limitations to remove them.

One limitation is that each investment fund has its own mechanism; so the investors should study separate instructions and regulations for making investment through different funds.

Mohammadreza Motamed, the SEO director for supervising financial institutions, last week announced that mechanisms of the investment funds are to become similar. He said, “We are investigating the regulations to define an integrated instruction for the activity of these funds in a way that the investors will be required to refer to just a single instruction once making investment through different funds”.

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He added that China, Germany, the Netherlands, and Turkmenistan are the main foreign investors in the industrial projects in Razavi Khorasan in the said period.

As reported earlier, during the first three months of the present Iranian calendar year (ending June 21, 2019) the named province exported $480 million worth of non-oil goods.

“Some 956,000 tons of goods at the value of $408 million were exported in these three months,” Mesforoush said previously.

“The figure shows a growth of 62 percent in terms of weight,” he added.

“The exported products included saffron, apples, pistachio, steel bars, cement, some dairy products, etc.,” he added.

“Afghanistan, Iraq, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, the EU, Pakistan, Hong Kong, Kyrgyzstan, and Vietnam were the export destinations for the products of the province,” Mesforoush added.

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He pointed to the development projects of the ministry in the field of industrial parks and added, “development projects are underway in 77 industrial parks and areas across the nation.”

Salehinia put the number of industrial parks and areas in the country at about 1,100 and added, “according to the latest statistics, Small- and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) exported $4 billion worth of products last year (ended March 20, 2019).”

Elsewhere in his remarks, he pointed to the construction of 466 industrial clusters in the country and added, “these clusters are active in 97 projects including saffron, honey, carpet, etc.”

Salehinia put the number of industrial parks and areas under construction at 810 and said that Iran is home to nine special economic zones.

The Ministry of Industry has supported more than 33,700 industrial units for participating in domestic and foreign exhibitions, the deputy minister highlighted.

About 210 foreign investors have made major investments, valued at over $2 billion, in Iran’s industrial and trade units which have generated employment opportunities for 17,000 job-seeking people.

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