Page 27 - IRANRptMay21

Iran to grant five-year residency permits to foreign investors
FDI in Iran fell 30% in 2018 UN report suggests
Taking oil as an example, Zanganeh also said: “Today's capacity to sell oil, transfer oil and receive oil money is in no way comparable to what was the case back in March 2018 and the beginning of the sanctions. We will not allow these capacities to be lost. We are organising these capacities.”
Meanwhile, Mehr News Agency reported on December 15, Mehdi Mahmoudi said Iran is to grant five-year residency visas to foreign investors as part of the drive to attract new investment to the country in the post-Donald Trump era, citing the director-general for foreign nationals and immigrants at the Iranian interior ministry. Mehdi Mahmoudi said the visa offer was particularly aimed at European, African and Asian business people. A deterrence to investing in Iran is that obtaining a residence visa in the Islamic Republic is notoriously cumbersome and difficult.
The volume of foreign direct investment (FDI) placed in Iran declined more than 30% in 2018, dropping to $3.48bn from more than $5bn in 2017, according to the United Nations’ World Investment Report.
The harsh sanctions regime directed at Iran by the Trump administration since May 2018 has prompted a great many foreign companies to shutter their operations in Iran.
During the latter half of the Obama administration, FDI in Iran jumped from around $2bn in 2015 to $3.37bn in 2016, at the end of which the nuclear deal was signed by Iran and six major powers including the US. Donald Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of the multilateral accord but the other signatories remain signed up.
The upward FDI trend continued in 2017 with a figure of $5.01bn, up 48% y/y. Overall, the world’s FDI volume stood at $1,297bn in 2018, meaning Iran had a share of 0.26%
6.0 Public Sector 6.1 Budget
Iran’s budget for next Persian year ‘could be based on oil price of $40’
Iran’s budget for the next Persian year (starts March 21, 2021) could be based on an oil price of $40 a barrel, according to government spokesman Ali Rabiei.
“The revenue sources for the next year’s budget are not finalised yet by the government ... Our primary forecast for now is oil at $40 [a barrel],” Rabiei said in remarks on an official website, relayed by Reuters.
He added that the budget assumptions were not final as yet.
The extent of Iran’s oil sales on the grey market—Iran has to operate under the radar as the Donald Trump administration pursues its policy of using sanctions in an effort to drive Iranian crude off world markets—is a matter of conjecture. However, there is the prospect of US President-elect Joe Biden striking a new political deal with Tehran that would remove heavy US sanctions. Such an agreement is by no means guaranteed as things stand, but if it was achieved it could open the way for Iran to build up oil export sales to as high as 2mn b/d within around two years.
27 IRAN Country Report May 2021 www.intellinews.com