Page 24 - IRANRptAug18

6.1.2 Budget dynamics - funding, privatisation
The Iranian Privatization Organisation (IPO) has announced that more than 630 companies will enter the privatisation process within the next few weeks, in a block sale bid to shift latent manufacturing potential into the private sector, the Tehran Times reported on May 30.
The IPO has previously published a list of state enterprises and significant holdings in a bid to attract private sector investment. Those companies and holdings that have not attracted any substantial interest have been relisted. The IPO said it had transferred IRR380bn ($904mn) worth of state-run shares to the private sector in the first two months of the Persian calendar year (March 21-May 21).
Company stakes listed in the block sale include those of livestock firms , industrial firms, insurance companies and Iran National Public Trading Corporation. Auctions will commence over the next few weeks.
Also, the IPO is set to list an additional 21 state-owned assets on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) and Iran Fara Bourse (over-the counter) by June 21.
The continuing divestiture of assets comes with the government aiming to counter the ongoing capital flight from the country brought about by Iran’s difficult political and economic circumstances much shaped by the US decision to exit the nuclear deal and reimpose heavy sanctions.
6.2 Debt
Iran - Gross external debt 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 Mar-18
External debt (USD bn)
20.030 17.344 7.406 7.006 5.441 6.322 7.475 8.481 10.910
External debt (% GDP)
4.281 2.929 1.258 1.366 1.277 1.577 1.9 2.0 2.4
Source: World Bank, CEIC
Iran's foreign debt stood at $6.3bn in 2015, down almost 64% compared to the figure in 2011, when sanctions were placed on the country, the World Bank (WB) said in its latest International Debt Statistics 2017 report. Iran’s debt fell substantially thanks to the post-sanctions country being able to access frozen assets in several nations, including the US.
The report said that in 2015 Iran's long-term foreign debt was $2.3bn, its foreign short-term debt was $2.0bn and its debt owed to international financial organisations was also $2.0bn. The ratio of external debt to GDP stood at 1.6% for 2015, down from 2.9% in 2011.
24 IRAN Country Report August 2018 www.intellinews.com