Azerbaijan, Baku, July.2/ Trend R.Zamanov
According to the latest world investment report released by the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), Iran absorbed nearly five billion dollars' worth of foreign investment in 2012, which is 17 per cent more than 2011.
The report caused the Iranian officials to boast about the effectiveness of their economic plans. However, a closer look shows that all the absorbed capital was not of foreign origin. Actually investments of Iranian companies which were registered outside the country have also been included in the UNCTAD's report.
Affected by sanctions, most probably many Iranian state and private companies registered outside the country have returned their capital to Iran. For example, take Babak Zanjani who claims to have more than 60 companies abroad. He was backlisted by the United States on April 11, four months after the European Union blacklisted him.
In an interview with the BBC in March, Zanjani said he had invested four billion euros in Iranian projects inside the country. Although he spoke about the sanctions, he didn't mention the period of time in which he transferred that amount of money to Iran. The mentioned amount nearly equals to Iran's total absorbed foreign investment in 2012.