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Iran - Financial market as of Nov as of Jan as of Jun as of Jun aas of Dec 2020 2020 2019 2018 2017
Equity market index: Tehran Stock Exchange (TEDPIX)
1,350,899 427,139 248,533 111,528.2 95,561.5
Market capitalisation: % of GDP
59.2% 32.6% 23.9% 25.7% 22.7% (2019) (2017) (2017) (2016) (2015)
Market cap: Tehran Stock Exchange 1,366.55 327.20 224.85 100.66 105.98 (TSE) (USD bn) (Dec 2019)
PE ratio: TSE 22.56 8.60 8.41 6.76 7.01 Source: CEIC
8.3.1 IPOs
Iran’s Aseman Airlines ‘planning IPO’
Iran’s Aseman Airlines is planning an initial public offering (IPO) on the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE), according to its CEO Mehdi Qaderi, as cited by Press TV.
Aseman, a subsidiary of Iran’s Civil Servants Pension Fund, flies to more than 50 destinations and is Iran’s third largest carrier by size of fleet and staff. Qaderi reportedly said that the plan for a flotation has been coordinated with high levels of government, including people in the Iranian parliament.
Iran’s civil aviation authority lately said that the country’s airlines have been provided with more than Iranian rial (IRR) 20 trillion ($83mn at the free market rate) in loans to help them cope with losses suffered because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Officials hope that fresh IPOs by government-run companies could help boost trade on the TSE. Its main index, the TEDPIX, has fallen by almost a half from highs seen last summer.
8.4 Fixed income
8.4.1 Fixed income - bond news
Bout of speculation that Iran plans to offer oil bonds to citizens in return for hard currency and gold
On the bond market, speculation that the cash-strapped Rouhani administration was set to sell oil bonds to citizens has gone nowhere, with jitters about Iran’s oil export prospects said to have hindered the plan. Mohammad Hossein Farhangi, a lawmaker for Tabriz, told local press in August that he thought Iranians nationwide had $35bn stashed in their homes, almost equal to the state budget for one year.
Centrist politician Hossein Marashi lately said during a meeting with Rouhani that the government could keep the country's economy going for at least another year by collecting everyone's FX and gold by issuing "oil shares" that would be redeemed in three years.
The same plan was put forward in 2012 under the Ahmadinejad administration when sanctions against Iran's oil industry began to be enforced. But it was never put into action.
There has to be serious doubt that enough citizens would risk their hard currency and gold savings in oil transaction investments given the deep uncertainties facing the Iranian oil industry in the years ahead.
40 IRAN Country Report February 2021 www.intellinews.com
