Page 25 - IRANRptMay20

Years of lax regulation and corrupt financial practices have made tax collection and accounting a hugely problematic task in Iran. State organisations, paramilitary organisations and privatised companies are often the most significant offenders when it comes to the non-payment of due tax.
6.1.2​Budget dynamics - funding, privatisation
Iran asks Russia for additional $2bn loan for power, rail and subway carriage projects
Iran aims to privatise 600 companies in current Persian year
Iran has asked Russia to provide an additional $2bn loan for projects including the construction of thermal power plants, hydroelectric power plants, railroads and subway carriages, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak was quoted as saying by media outlets in Russia on November 23.
“They’re asking for about $2 billion... They say they were promised $5 billion in 2015... We had loans allocated to them, they ask us to bring the total amount up to $5 billion,” Novak said, without elaborating.
Iranian Energy Minister Reza Aradakanian would be content with an initial $2bn advance, according to Kommersant.
The Iranian parliament has previously given its asset to the government to take a loan from Russia in the amount of $5bn. Russia agreed to a plan to provide a $5bn loan to Iran for joint infrastructure projects in October 2015, when Novak travelled to Tehran.
The head of the Iranian Privatisation Organisation (IPO) has announced that some 600 companies are to be fully or partially sold to private buyers in the 2019/2020 Persian calendar year (started March 21), IBENA reported on April 28.
The Rouhani administration is under growing pressure to allow more assets on to the market at a faster rate so that capital can move from the roiled currency markets and back into the local economy. With the Iranian rial (IRR) severely weakened by the US sanctions assault on Iran’s economy and Washington to launch its attempt at fully shutting down Iran’s oil exports on May 2, the government is under heightened pressure to increase efforts to deliver liquidity.
IPO director Mir Ali Ashraf Abdollah Pouri-Hosseini said that of the current 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.
25​ IRAN Country Report May 2020 www.intellinews.com