TEHRAN - Iranian Minister of Finance and Economic Affairs Farhad Dejpasand has said the capital market realized 6.8 quadrillion rials (over $161.9 billion) of financing in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20).

Speaking to the press on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Dejpasand said: “The Economy Ministry plays a major role in formulating the country’s economic policy.”

"This ministry should take measures to facilitate business and remove barriers so that investors can enter the market, and as a result, new job opportunities will be created,” he added.

Over the past few years and especially since the re-imposition of the U.S. sanctions, the Iranian government has been implementing new strategies to cut reliance on oil and promote domestic production using internal capacities.

The capital market was one of the major areas in which these new strategies manifested. As part of the mentioned strategies, the government defined a holistic program to encourage the country’s production sector to enter the capital market and use its huge capacities for funding development projects and boost production.

Back in February, Dejpasand had said that the capital market provided five quadrillion rials (over $119 billion) of financing in the first 10 months of the previous Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2020-January 19, 2021).

The official had stressed that in order to realize the government programs for the capital market, it is necessary to plan in such a way that the currency market and the capital market go forward side by side and act in harmony.

“Today, Iran is free from absolute dependence on oil, and the volume of non-oil exports is more than the oil exports. The share of non-oil exports in total exports has increased significantly and this trend is expected to continue after the sanctions are removed,” the minister said..

EF/MA