Tehran, September 19: A UN agency report shows Iran attracted $1.6 billion in direct investments from abroad in 2008 despite a 20% decrease in the global flow of direct foreign investment, an Iranian official says.
New data released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) show that Iran attracted 4 percent more investment in 2008, compared with the previous year.
“According to the UNCTAD report, the global flow of direct foreign investment fell by 20 percent, but the investment increased by 4 percent in Iran,” said the head of the Organization for Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran (OIETAI), Behrouz Alishiri, according to a report by Iran’s state broadcasting body, IRIB.
In its annual report on cross-border investments by businesses around the globe, UNCTAD also predicted that the flow of direct foreign investments will decrease for the second year running in 2009.
The agency says that the total inflows will plunge to below $1.2 trillion in 2009, from $1.7 trillion in 2008. This is in contrast to the record $2 trillion invested in 2007.
—–Agencies