Foreign investment in Iran has climbed 40% since the implementation of the nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in mid-January, Securities and Exchange Organization’s deputy for international affairs, Bahador Bijani, said on Tuesday.
According to IRNA, the 636 foreign investors listed with the SEO had 798 billion rials in long investments ($22.8 million at market exchange rate) in Iranian securities in the third month of the Iranian year (started May 21).
The historic deal that saw the lifting of nuclear-related sanctions against Iran in exchange for limiting the scope of Iran’s nuclear program was signed last July between Iran and the P5+1—Britain, France, China, Russia and the US, plus Germany. It came into effect on January 16 this year.
The agreement paved the way for increased foreign investment in Iran’s underdeveloped securities markets.
However, non-nuclear related US sanctions have still warded off foreigners from investing in Iran to a large extent, as they fear they may unknowingly break US sanctions and face prosecution. Because of this, the flow of investment into the country has fallen far short of initial expectations.
That has not stopped Iranian authorities from seeking partnerships abroad. Just this week, the SEO signed two memorandums of understanding with South Korea’s exchange operator Financial Supervisory Service to link the two countries securities markets; whether these MoUs will turn into real cooperation remains to be seen.
“Defining joint projects with foreign institutions is more significant for us compared to MoUs, thus SEO policy revolves around defining and running joint projects,” said Bijani.
