On December 29, 2017, Posted by admin , In News, By Banking and insurance in Iran,emerging market,Foreign relations of Iran,invest in iran,investing opportunities,investment opportunity,iran,Iran banks seal deal to get ‘unlimited funds’ from Russia,sanctions against Iran , With No Comments
Four Iranian banks have signed an agreement with the Export Insurance Agency of Russia (EXIAR) which enables them to receive “unlimited funds” over development projects in the country.Iran says four of its banks have signed an agreement with the Export Insurance Agency of Russia (EXIAR) to provide “unlimited funds” for development projects to be carried out by domestic and international contractors in the Islamic Republic.
The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) in a statement said the agreement had been signed between the EXIAR and Bank Sepah, the Export Development Bank of Iran, Bank Parsian and Bank Pasargad.
This followed a basic agreement that the four banks and EXIAR had signed earlier in mid-October, Iran’s IRNA news agency reported.
Iran had earlier been able to seal similar deals with several European as well as Asian financial institutions.
In late September, Austria’s Oberbank signed a major finance deal with over a dozen Iranian banks based on which it would provide €1 billion in credits to the country’s companies that invest in the Iranian economy.
Oberbank’s initiative – that was seen in Tehran as the first of its kind in many years – was followed on the same day by a similar agreement between Denmark’s Danske Bank and several Iranian banks.
Accordingly, Danske Bank would allocate a credit line of €500 million for investments by Danish businesses in Iran.
On a related front, France’s state investment bank Bpifrance (BPI) announced also in September that it planned to provide funds to French companies that invest in the Iranian economy from next year.
BPI France CEO Nicolas Dufourcq was quoted by media as telling reporters that his bank would grant up to €500 million ($598 million) in annual credits to companies that venture into the Iranian market.
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Iran Khodro (IKCO) has opened a production line for two new car models, including one jointly produced by France’s Peugeot SPA.
The first Peugeot 207 and Dena Plus sedans rolled off the production line near Tehran on Saturday during a ceremony attended by Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani, Iranian news agencies reported.
Dena Plus is an upgraded version of the Dena sedan which Iran Khodro claims offers better safety, having two more airbags.
Peugeot 207 is the same as the Peugeot 207i, with a cargo compartment added to it. Iran Khodro produced about 15,000-20,000 units of Peugeot 207i in 2011 before production stopped the next year when Iran came under intensified Western sanctions.
The model, a supermini produced from 2006 to 2014, is based on the platform of the predecessor model, Peugeot 206, which was replaced by the Peugeot 208 in 2012.
PSA has signed production deals worth 700 million euros with Iran, while Renault has announced a new plant investment to increase its production capacity in Iran to 350,000 vehicles a year.
The French company has yet to start production of the Peugeot 2008 in Iran despite the launch of an assembly line in the country back in March.
As per the joint venture called the Iran Khodro Automobiles Peugeot (IKAP), 70% of parts for Peugeot 2008 will be supplied by Iranian manufacturers. The car’s body will also be produced by an IKCO subsidiary.
The deal requires production of more than 30,000 units this year but only four Peugeot 2008s have been produced so far, with IKCO having to import pre-owned cars for delivery from France.
The production line of Peugeot 2008 at Iran Khodro which began on May 2, 2017Since the lifting of sanctions in January 2016, French automakers have piled into Iran’s resurgent market, helping turn around a period of slipping sales which occurred when they left the country in 2012.
On Saturday, Fars news agency cited data released by Renault as showing year-on-year growth of 54% in sales to Iran where the automaker sold 144,862 cars in the year up to November.
With US President Donald Trump having put the future of the landmark nuclear deal in doubt, Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade officials have tried to give assurances that the new contracts with the French automakers were watertight.
Both Renault and Peugeot withdrew from Iran in 2012 when the country came under the Western sanctions.
Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine and Trade Mohsen Salehinia said last month he was optimistic about foreign companies holding their ground in case the Americans toughened their measures against Iran.
Seyed Reza Nourani told Mehr News Agency on Sunday “the Iraqi government has now banned the entry of some Iranian crops including lettuce, turnips, beets, cabbage and cauliflower into its country,” adding that the ban has been in place since last week.
Referring to the fact that this is not the first time the Iraqi government bans crops import from Iran, he added "the Iraqi government has previously banned importing some other products from Iran including watermelons, potatoes, apples, tomatoes, and so on.”
Nourian stressed the need for resolving the issue saying “unfortunately, we are always faced with a new issue in our trade with Iraq,” adding that the Iraqi government has not elaborated on the ban yet.
He pointed out that these bans have so far hurt the Iranian farmers severely.
In response to a question regarding the extent of Iran’s agricultural export to Iraq, the head of the national union of Iran’s agricultural products said that Iraq is one of major markets for Iranian crops while he stressed that Iraq cannot easily replace Iran with another country in securing its agricultural products.
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Iranian Parliament Research Center:
TEHRAN, Jan. 07 (MNA) – In its latest report, Iranian Parliament Research Center put the country’s e economic growth in the current year at 4.1 percent.In addition, the Center put the inflation rate in the current year (to end March 20, 2018) at 10.5%.
Turning to the situation of tax income, economic growth oil price and inflation rate, the Center added, “change of main factors affecting tax incomes will determine the rate of collections in coming years.”
Also, estimates indicate that the annual inflation rate will hit from nine percent in the past Iranian calendar year in 1395 (ended March 20, 2017) to 10.5 percent in the current Iranian calendar year in 1396 (to end March 20, 2018).
In the same direction, the oil export price will hit from $44.2 in the past Iranian calendar year to $55 in the current Iranian year in 1396 (to end March 20, 2018).
According to the Monetary and Banking Research Center, probable increase of oil price in the coming year can help considerable growth of imports volume to the tax resources of the coming year due to the direct effectiveness of the rate of oil incomes on the tax income, the report added.
With regard to the inflation, considerable growth in general level of prices in the next Iranian calendar year is predicted higher than the inflation rate in the past Iranian calendar year, the issue of which can have a positive growth on the growth of collection of tax incomes in the coming year than the current year, the Center concluded.
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The Director General of East Azarbaijan province Industry, Mine and Trade Organization Hossein Nejati made the above remark, saying, “the aforementioned volume of products was exported to about 101 world countries in the same period.”
He put the value of products exported from East Azarbaijan province to other countries at about $200 million, showing a considerable hike as compared to the same period of last year.
Nejati also put the value of products exported from this province in the nine months of the past Iranian calendar year (from March 20 to Dec. 22, 2016) at about $1.3 billion, showing a considerable growth as compared to the last year’s corresponding period.
Elsewhere in his remarks, the director general added, “of total products exported to overseas from this province, 45.5 percent of which was industrial products while the rest products were related to the petrochemical, agricultural, carpet, handicrafts and metal industries.”
Export of products from customs offices of the province in the past nine months was negative while export of products from provincial customs offices in the current year turned positive, he emphasized.
The provincial products have mainly exported to the neighboring countries of Iraq, Turkey, Afghanistan, Armenia, Georgia, Republic of Azerbaijan, Russia, Pakistan, Italy and Bulgaria, Nejati concluded.
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Seyed Mostafa Davoodi from Iran Railway Company said that Iran has already been negotiating with neighboring and regional countries to develop international transit corridors, and said the third freight train from Xi'an province in western China will arrive in Iran later this week, adding that it is carrying 41 wagons.
He added that multilateral agreements have been concluded with China, Kazakhstan and Turkmenistan on the origin and destination of the travel, as well as the tariff rate.
China is trying to revive the old Silk Road and Iran’s government has welcomed the project with the aim of turning the country in an Eurasian trade hub. The first freight train to travel the old silk road arrived in Iran in February 2016.
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“The contract for the export of gas to Georgia has not been ruled out yet and if the agreements get finalized, the private sector will export Iranian gas to Georgia through Armenia,” said Managing Director of the National Iranian Gas Company (NIGC) Hamidreza Araghi.
Mr. Araghi who also serves as Iranian Deputy Oil Minister for Gas Affairs made the remarks on Saturday.
“Iran’s geographic conditions are fit to make it possible to export gas to many countries, including Georgia, but these exports should be made through the soil of Armenia,” asserted the official.
He recounted that to put the plan into practice and finalize the deal there are many requirements to be met including the agreement with Armenia, export infrastructures, and reasonable price.
“If Iran, Armenia, and Georgia agree on gas deal, the private sector should buy gas from Iran and pay the price for swapping gas between Iran and Armenia to get gas enter Georgia,” he said.
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