TEHRAN- The Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade has approved 49 foreign investment cases valued at about $850 million in the first five months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-August 21), Donya-e-Eqtesad daily reported.

According to the latest data released by the Industry Ministry, in the mentioned five months 60 foreign investment cases valued at $1.2 billion were approved in the country, of which 26 percent were attracted by the industry, mining, and trade sectors.

Based on the data, 83.6 percent of the ministry’s foreign investment was attracted by the industry sector, followed by trade and mining with 10.2 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively.

The largest volume of foreign investment in the mentioned period was attracted by the groups of manufacturing chemical products ($405 million of investment), basic metals ($45 million), food products and beverages (S32 million), and equipment and machinery ($26 million).

Accordingly, the first four countries in terms of the value of investment were Germany, United Arab Emirates (UAE), China, and Turkey, with $341 million, $54 million, $32 million, and $30 million of investments, respectively.

The largest number of investments were made by Afghanistan with 17 cases, followed by China, Turkey, and India.

Also, Sistan-Baluchestan, Khouzestan, Tehran, and East Azarbaijan provinces were the top four provinces in terms of the volume of approved foreign investment.

Back in July, the Industry Ministry published the foreign investment data for the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-June 20), based on which the figure stood at nearly $800 million.

As previously reported by the Industry Ministry, Iran expects a 10-fold increase of foreign investment in industry and mining sectors by the end of the Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (2021).

EF/MA