June 22, 2018
Foreign investment in Iran jumped by almost 50 percent last year to reach $5 billion, by far the most foreign investment in Iran in any year, according the annual report on such investments around the world by UNCTAD, the UN Conference on Trade and Development.
UNCTAD reported that foreign direct investment in Iran in 2017 totaled $5,019 million, up 49 percent from the investment total of $3,372 million in 2016 and an immense 2-1/2 times the $2,050 million recorded in 2015, the last year before most sanctions were lifted.
As the accompanying chart shows, foreign direct investment in the Islamic Republic was a mere pittance until the Khatami Administration was able to attract foreign capital, bringing in $3,519 million in 2002. But Iran did not surpass that volume until 2010, 2011 and 2012—ironically under President Ahmadi-nejad. Foreign investment then plummeted after the EU joined the United States in imposing punitive sanctions in the summer of 2012.
The record set in 2017 is not likely to be surpassed in 2018 due to President Trump’s re-imposition of US sanctions, which is already driving away many firms that had been planning to invest—or that had already invested—in Iran.
The $5 billion invested in Iran last year was impressive by Iran’s historical standards. But it still was not that impressive by global standards. A total of 39 countries attracted more foreign investment than Iran last year.
In Iran’s area, Iran was outranked by Egypt, which drew $7.4 billion in foreign investment, Malaysia, with $9.5 billion, the UAE with $10.4 billion and Turkey with $10.9 billion.
The accompanying chart shows the figures published by UNCTAD this month going back 22 years. UNCTAD made very substantial revisions in old figures going back many years and now generally shows much more investment in the early years of this century than it showed in its tabulations last year. UNCTAD did not explain why it revised so many of its older numbers.