Page 23 - IRANRptMay19

Iran parliament agrees to release IRR10 trillion in assets to pay debt
block of companies to go up for sale, all the shares would be available to buyers except for 20% in each case, except where otherwise stated. However, it will be an uphill struggle to sell majority stakes in so many businesses, with Pouri-Hosseini noting that across six months of the previous calendar year, only 55 companies were privatised.
“If we can privatise double or triple this amount, still there would be many companies for sale,” he added.
On April 22, the IPO said 13.36% of Transfo Co., a local electrical transformers company, was sold at IRR6249 a share.
In December, the I PO notified investors of a partial block sale of 68% of the Bistoun Petrochemical Company. Final details of that sale were not available.
The Iranian parliament has agreed to release IRR10 trillion ($67mn at the free market rate) from the sale of assets and shares owned by the state, according to IBENA on February 18.
The Rouhani administration has been looking at several options to raise cash to pay for essential services and investment in infrastructure while US sanctions remain on the country. Many assets previously thought of as unsellable have been proposed for privatisation including state-owned refineries and football clubs .
However, at the official government rate of IRR4,700 to the euro the assets released would be valued at €212.7mn, which will be the figure the government states.
The release of assets come as part of a raft of packages included in the 2019-20 year budget which begins at the start of the Persian New Year on March 21. The parliament did not specify which shares or firms it will release to the market as part of its agreed proposal.
6.2 Debt
Iran - Gross external debt 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
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 external debt stood at $10.9bn in 2018, up 28.6% compared to the figure in 2017, due to sanctions placed on the country, according to CEIC data. The ratio of external debt to GDP stood at 2.4% in 2018.
The World Bank (WB) said in its International Debt Statistics 2017 report that Iran’s foreign debt stood at $6.3bn in 2015, falling substantially by almost 64% compared to the figure in 2011, 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.
23 IRAN Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com