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join [the CFT convention],” Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said during the parliamentary debate. "But I guarantee that not joining will provide the US with more excuses to increase our problems," Zarif added.
The Rouhani administration has introduced various pieces of legislation aimed at addressing Paris-based FATF's concerns over Iran. It hopes the body will remove the country from its blacklist, which has added to Iran's difficulties in gaining access to global banking. In June, FATF cautioned that Tehran had until October to implement reforms or face consequences that might further deter investors from the country. The reimposition of US sanctions has already caused severe economic turmoil in the Islamic Republic.
During the protests outside parliament, hundreds of religious groups, likely backed by Iran’s several paramilitary groups, shouted slogans against the bills related to FATF, decrying them as a foreign plot to control the Iranian economy.
2.6 Polls & Sociology
Iran falls four places th
to 128 in latest World Bank Doing Business rankings
Iran has fallen for four places in the World Bank’s Doing Business annual survey. The Islamic Republic placed 128th of 190 economies in Doing Business 2019, compared to the ranking of 124th which it received in the 2018 edition of the annual assessment. Regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia placed 92nd, the same ranking that it took the year before.
Iran’s points score in the survey improved from 54.64 in the 2018 edition of the survey to 56.98 in the 2019 edition.
Data collection for the latest Doing Business rankings was completed in May, the same month that the US announced it was unilaterally withdrawing from the multilateral nuclear deal and reimposing heavy sanctions on Iran. In the months prior to the announcement, the country’s business reform environment was already negatively affected as foreign entrepreneurs and companies began to prepare to possibly exit the country to avoid secondary sanctions levied by Washington. With the US sanctions regime tightening, Iran is reintroducing some “resistance economy” measures to defend itself against a Trump administration economic assault which, according to the IMF, has already plunged the country into recession.
Iran’s rankings in the Doing Business 2019 sub-categories are as follows:
173rd Starting a business
86th Dealing with construction permits
108th Getting electricity
90th Registering a property
99th Getting credit
173rd Protecting minority investors 149th Paying taxes
121st Trading across borders
89th Enforcing contracts
131st Resolving insolvency
The Doing Business project provides objective measures of business regulations and their enforcement across economies and selected cities at the
9 IRAN Country Report November 2018 www.intellinews.com