Foreign investment in Iran rises 141% in 4 years

Foreign investment in Iran amounted to $4.37 billion in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19), which is a 141 percent rise compared to four years ago, the director of the Organization for Investment and Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran said on Monday.

Behrouz Alishiri told the Mehr News Agency that $1.2 billion in foreign investment has been attracted since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year.

It is projected that Iran will attract $6.5 billion in foreign investment during the current year, Alishiri said.

Iran attracted $4.3 billion in foreign investment in the previous Iranian calendar year, a 27 percent rise compared to the year before, Alishiri said on April 2.

However, Iran needs up to $400 billion in direct foreign investment to materialize its objective of 8 percent economic growth, he added.

Over the next five years, the government will need new sources of capital sourced through the input of national and international private finance, Alishiri said.

In October 2011, he noted that Iran was one of the top destinations in the world for direct foreign investment and that despite the economic sanctions, more than 400 foreign companies were directly investing in Iran.