Foreign Investment Rises By 142% In Five Years

Tehran, June 30, IRNA – Foreign investment has increased by 142 percent in the past five years (2007-2012), Deputy Minister of Economy and Finance Behrouz Alishiri said on Saturday. He said that none of the Middle East states had positive growth in foreign investment. ˈIran is one of the sixth top countries in the world which has experienced regular increase in foreign investment in the past four years.ˈ Addressing a ceremony to comment on a report by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on international investment in 2012, he said that Iran attracted $4.870 billion up by 142 percent compared to the figure for 2007. Based on the statistics released by UNCTAD, Iran was the second country attracting foreign direct investment in South Asia following India in 2012. UNCTAD said that Iranˈs foreign investment in 2012 stood at five billion dollars, indicating an increase of 17 percent compared to the figure for the preceding year. Mining sector including oil, gas and mineral industries ranked first by attracting $3.5 billion in foreign investment while services and industry sectors came second and third in this respect, Alishiri said. As many as 16,000 job opportunities were generated due to the increase in foreign direct investment, Alishiri said./end