Economy, Domestic Economy
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Capital Flight Alarming

Satellite TV commercials and newspaper advertisements these days invite Iranians to invest abroad.
Satellite TV commercials and newspaper advertisements these days invite Iranians to invest abroad.

Pulling money out of the country of their birth and buying foreign assets such as real estate have been a common practice of the rich in Iran for years. 
However, now even those with a little more than enough money in their bank accounts are keen to exchange their Iranian rials for foreign assets—from foreign currency to real estate to investments in the so-called international cryptocurrency exchanges. 
According to a report by the International Monetary Fund, Iranians broke a new record for getting money out of their country last year: $27 billion. The worst year in terms of capital outflow, before last year, was the fiscal 2010-11, when the country suffered from a negative capital account of $25 billion. 
Figures on Iran’s capital account show nearly $135 billion flew out of the country between 2006-7 and 2016-17, the Persian daily Iran reported.
The Central Bank of Iran’s data show close to $16 billion and $30 billion flew out of Iran in the fiscal 2016-17 and 2017-18, respectively.

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