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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.
42 IRAN Country Report December 2021 www.intellinews.com