Iran absorbed $37.31 billion in foreign investment between 1992 and 2012, a level that put the country in the 56th place among 105 countries in terms of received foreign direct investment, Eghtesad News reported, citing information from US Central Intelligence Agency Facebook page.
The CIA had estimated the amount of foreign investment in Iran would increase to $41.45 billion by the end of 2013.
The report lists countries from Asia and the Middle East as the largest investors in Iran, where the United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and Amman top the list.
Eghtesad News also quotes a recent report by The Economist as saying that the amount of foreign direct investment in Iran for 2012 stood at $1.4 billion, accounting for 0.3 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Before western sanctions against Tehran intensified in 2010, Iran was able to absorb $3.2 billion of foreign investment.
The Economist forecast that once the nuclear talks between Iran and the 5+1 – the US, Britain, France, China, Russian and Germany – come to conclusion, Iran will be able to absorb $1.8 billion in foreign investment in 2015 alone.
In CIA ranking, the US stands on top of the list in terms of foreign direct investments at home, amounting to $2.815 trillion, followed by the UK with $1.557 trillion. Other largest countries, in terms of foreign direct investment, included Hong Kong with $1.502 trillion, China with $1.344 trillion and Germany with $1.335 trillion standing in the third to fifth place, respectively.
