Iran's Sovereign Fund Eying International Markets

The National Development Fund of Iran, the country's sovereign fund, announced that it plans to make investments in international money and financial markets "so that its assets can act as a leverage to attract global capital".

According to the fund's director, Ahmad Doust-Hosseini, the fund is also ready to support foreign investors willing to invest in the country as well as Iranian exporters by extending loans.

"There are three regulatory articles that define the framework of credit allocation, one of which aims to support Iranian companies so that in addition to foreign contractors, they could use the loans if they manage to export goods or services," Doust-Hosseini was quoted as saying by IBENA.

The official, who was speaking at the Iran Petroleum Conference 2017, announced that from the next Iranian year (March 21, 2017), 30% of revenues from the sale of oil, gas and their related products will be deposited with the NDFI.

He noted that the primary goal of the fund is to "safeguard the share of future generations from oil and gas wealth and turning their products into durable and value-generating capital".

"The fund belongs to the private sector and non-government enterprises," Doust-Hosseini said, adding that as per the law, state-owned entities will not receive any loans.

"The secondary mission of the fund is to support the prolific contractors of the country on an international scale."

The fund's director clarified that not every contractor working abroad will be eligible to receive funds from NDFI "and only contractors who win the tender can use them".

According to Doust-Hosseini, the NDFI will do two things for these eligible candidates. "One is an advance payment guarantee that must be paid upfront and the other is outfitting their businesses, but the rest must be provided by business owners."

Pointing out that loans will also be allocated to foreign buyers of Iranian products, the official said, "We will use one-year and two-year usance L/Cs  in the future."

"The limit for the share of loans that businesses affiliated to non-government public-sector institutions can receive has been set at 20%," he said, adding that the remaining 80% of the loans will go to the private sector and "that is why the scope of competition in the private sector is very wide".

Bankrolling of Oil, Derivatives Projects

Speaking at the same conference, Ali Salehabadi, CEO of the Export Development Bank of Iran, said his bank is ready to finance oil, gas and petrochemical projects.

"Last year, NDFI allocated $800 million to support oil and gas projects," he said.

"The EDBI also used €2.2 billion of Chinese finance in Bushehr petrochemical plants. It is predicted that this will increase the country's petrochemical exports by $3 billion a year."

The chief executive added that the exim bank will allocate working capital to export projects in the form of foreign exchange and rial loans.

Stressing that EDBI will finance export projects, Salehabadi said if a project enters the country in partnership with foreign businesses, "the bank will be ready to allocate syndicate loans to the project in partnership with NDFI".

The official noted that his bank is focused on bankrolling export projects that generate foreign exchange income for the country and is ready to allocate syndicate loans to oil, gas and petrochemical