20 Billion Dollars in Capital Flight from Iran in the First 9 Months of 1402

A new report from the Central Bank indicates that Iran's net capital account reached an unprecedented negative figure of 20 billion and 193 million dollars in the first 9 months of the last Persian year. Thus, over 20 billion dollars in capital flight occurred from Iran in the first 9 months of 1402, showing a 25% increase compared to the same period last year. Additionally, the Central Bank's archive shows that since the beginning of 1391 and the onset of international sanctions against the Islamic Republic until last Azar, nearly 137 billion dollars have left Iran. This amount is equivalent to almost one-third of Iran's GDP last year. According to the Central Bank's statistics, the negative net capital account balance showed a noticeable decline in 1397 and 1398, but after the imposition of U.S. sanctions against Iran, capital flight has increased every year. The imbalance in Iran's non-oil trade reached an unprecedented negative figure of 17 billion dollars. Officials from Ebrahim Raisi's government, without mentioning the massive capital flight, claim that last year the total oil and non-oil exports of the country exceeded imports by 17 billion dollars, asserting that there is no currency shortage in the country. Customs and Raisi's government officials do not mention the status of service trade or capital flight in their foreign trade announcements. Central Bank statistics indicate that service exports in the first 9 months of 1402 were about 8 billion dollars, while service imports were double this amount, leading to a negative trade balance of 8 billion dollars in services. The institutions and officials of the Islamic Republic also do not provide any reports on the status of the country's foreign reserves. The International Monetary Fund had reported Iran's foreign reserves at 101 billion dollars in 2018, before the implementation of U.S. sanctions. However, after the sanctions were imposed, this international body only publishes the 'accessible' foreign reserves statistics of Iran, which reached 25 billion dollars last year. It is not exactly clear how much of Iran's foreign reserves are blocked and what the overall status of the country's total foreign reserves is.