Decoding Iran’s High Savings Trend

In a sample of 25-odd developing countries that make up acronyms like Next-11, MINT, BRICS, ASEAN, BIMSTEC and CIVETS, Iran at 38% had one of the highest savings rate in 2016. 
It had prominent emerging economies like China, Korea, Thailand and Indonesia for company. The high savings rate translated into a healthy investment rate in Iran, which was 34% in 2016. Channelizing savings into productive investment augurs well for future capacity. 
That year, it also saw high growth in imports, leading one to assume part of this pertained to machinery and equipment, thus connecting it with the high investment rate. This joins its reasonably healthy share of manufacturing within GDP, which at 35% is higher than those of India, Turkey, Russia, the Philippines, South Africa and Pakistan. All textbook so far!