would have to be pegged higher if the oil company is to raise the capital it needs from the public.
Ahmad Qalebani, the managing director of the NIOC, said only 20 percent of the bonds marketed a few weeks ago have been sold, far short of what the NIOC needs to fund its investments to maintain the current level of oil production, let alone increase it.
The bonds carried an interest rate of 17 percent, below the rate of inflation. The last announcement of the official inflation rate put it just a hair under 20 percent.
Qalebani said the NIOC put on sale bonds with a value of 5 trillion rials ($450 million), but sold only 1 trillion rials ($90 million).
Iran is unable to market many bonds abroad under current sanctions and is thus confined to the domestic market, clearly without much success.