Iran’s Attracted Only 0.1% Of Foreign Investment In 2022: UNCTAD
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development says Iran's share of attracting foreign investment last year was only one tenth of a percent (one thousandth) of the world total.
The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development says Iran's share of attracting foreign investment last year was only one tenth of a percent (one thousandth) of the world total.
According to this report, published June 5, Iran has managed to attract only 1.5 billion dollars of foreign direct investment in 2022.
In 2017, and after the lifting of international sanctions, Iran attracted more than five billion dollars in foreign direct investments, but in 2018, this was halved, and after that, the annual amount fluctuated around 1.5 billion dollars.
The United States imposed oil export and banking sanction on Iran in 2018, making a series of demands including a stronger agreement to restrict Tehran's nuclear and missile programs. Thes sanctions have triggered an economic crisis, driving annual inflation to 70 percent and reducing the value of Iran's currency 12-fold.
Among Iran's neighboring countries, the UAE has attracted the most foreign investment.
In total, the Arab countries of the Persian Gulf region have attracted about 37 billion dollars in foreign direct investment in 2022, of which the UAE's share is 60%. Last year, Turkey attracted $13 billion.
The United States attracted the highest amount of foreign direct investment in the world with $285 billion, followed by China, Singapore and Hong Kong.
The US is also at the top in terms of investment in foreign countries with 269 billion dollars.
Figures by the UNCTAD show that a total of 1.3 trillion dollars of direct investment was made last year, which is 12% less than in 2021. The reason for the drop was the decrease in investments by advanced countries abroad.
A moderate conservative figure has branded the members of ultraconservative party Paydari [steadfastness] “political businessmen” out to secure power and make money.
Mohammad Mohajeri, a former hardline conservative figure turned “moderate” who was once one of the editors of hardline daily Kushan, says the ideological games being played by Paydari are nothing but moves to secure the interests of ultraconservative politicians.
Mohajeri said in an interview widely covered by the Iranian press this week that moves to expand power and influence have spread to the state television, where leading Paydari member Vahid Jalili, a brother of former nuclear negotiator and Khamenei confidant Saeed Jalili, has been placing likeminded individuals on key posts ahead of the elections.
Exerting influence on the state TV is key to electioneering in Iran because it is the only broadcaster in the country. It targets regime supporters and promotes Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s hardline political views. However, it has lost its reach and influence among the middle class to a great extent after the disputed presidential election in 2009.
Mohajeri charged that state TV chief Payman Jebelli has put the national broadcaster totally at the disposal of hardliners by appointing Jalili as his deputy. He said that the television with its exclusive right to broadcasting in Iran has already been promoting the electoral agenda of the hardliners and paving the way for a landslide victory for Paydari.
However, he pointed out that polls conducted in Iran show that the state TV has lost three quarters of its viewership in a decade and the ideological management is hurting its popularity even more.
Mohajeri pointed out that there are four major groups of conservatives in the Iranian political landscape: Paydari, the neo-cons around Majles Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, traditional conservatives close to former Majles Speaker Gholamreza Ali Haddad Adel, and another group that calls itself “moderate and rational.” From among these four groups, Paydari currently has the upper hand among regime insiders.
Mohajeri had said in another interview last week that “Paydari is President Ebrahim Raisi’s strategic ally,” and are most likely to give all their support to Raisi and the candidates he picks for the Majles election in March. He added that Paydari is working on a plan to minimize the turnout next March so that mostly regime supporters come out to vote and most of them cast their ballots for its candidates.
Furthermore, Gholamreza Ali Jafarzadeh Imanabadi, a former lawmaker from Rasht in northern Iran, revealed that Paydari has been reaching out to ultraconservative figures who they believe can secure votes, encouraging them to run as representatives of the party in the upcoming elections.
Reformist politician Mohammad Reza Javadi Hesar told Etemad Online on Wednesday that Paydari has been exploiting state television in a manner that has even frustrated other conservatives. He may have been referring to a report on the website of the IRGC-linked Tasnim News Agency, which stated that Jalili's actions at state TV have deeply annoyed individuals devoted to the ideology of the Islamic Republic.
In response to criticism, Jalili argued that he possesses the appropriate background for the position of deputy director at state TV, stating that some of his predecessors came from the IRGC and were experts on missiles rather than having a background in a cultural organization such as the Art Bureau of the Islamic Propagation Organization, where he previously worked before being appointed as deputy state TV director.
