Tehran, Iran, Feb. 12
By Kamyar Eghbalnejad – Trend:
It appears that shortcomings in luring foreign investment, proper transportation infrastructure as well as high rates on loans are among the main obstacles against the promotion of Iranian exports.
Seyyed Arash Shahr-Aeini, a member of the Board of Directors at Export Guarantee Fund of Iran (EGFI) has estimated that the value of Iran’s non-oil exports would reach $45 billion over the current fiscal year (ends March 20).
Saying that the value of Iran’s non-oil exports over the last 15 years has dramatically increased to $40 billion from the $4 billion, he added that the reason behind the huge surge is the investments that the country made in petrochemicals, steel production and export-oriented industries, he added.
“If we want further surge in the volume of exports we must lure foreign investment to the export-oriented industries. However, this is not a prioritized plan due to the country’s needs for financial resources.”
Speaking about the hurdles that the country’s exporters are currently facing, the official noted that obstacles regarding the banking system have increased the costs of international transactions of the country.
Shahr-Aeini described shortcomings in the country’s rail and road transportation systems as a serious obstacle against the efforts aimed at boosting the country’s exports.
“For instance steel accounts for 5 percent of the total imports of steel in the neighboring Qatar, but we still have problems in creating proper infrastructure for delivering steel products to the Arab country … Nowadays we need to develop the country’s infrastructure in transportation sector.”
The official further touched upon the high interest rates on loans for exporters and called for cutting the figure.
According to Shahr-Aeini, the Exports Development Fund allocates loans to exports with an interest rate of 11 percent, which is much higher than the accepted level in the international market.
