Minister of Economy Announces $45 Billion Financial Agreement Signed

Ali Tayebnia, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, stated in an interview with Bloomberg that "since the implementation of the JCPOA, nearly $45 billion in financial agreements have been signed with various countries." The Minister emphasized that the execution of these contracts may take several months. Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, the Vice President of Iran and government spokesman, also confirmed on a television program that since January 16 of last year, over $3.418 billion in foreign investment has been attracted in 41 projects across various provinces of Iran. In recent weeks, on the occasion of the anniversary of the JCPOA signing, supporters and critics of the agreement have described it as either successful or a failure based on various indicators. In this interview, Ali Tayebnia also announced Iran's return to global bond markets after 14 years, stating: "We are negotiating with several international credit rating agencies so that Iran can enter the international bond market in the near future with a credit rating." According to the Minister of Economy of the eleventh government, obtaining a credit rating from rating agencies could be "a step to attract foreign investors" through the sale of government bonds. The last time Iran was able to issue government bonds in international markets was in 2002, when it offered bonds worth a total of one billion euros with a 3.75% interest rate and a five-year maturity. The Minister did not mention details, amounts, or timing for the issuance of these international government bonds, but the Wall Street Journal reported that the volume of bonds Iran intends to issue will be equivalent to half a billion dollars. The same report quoted Mohammad Khazaei, the Deputy Minister of Economy, stating that Iran will definitely implement the issuance of international bonds in 2016, as Iran seeks to test the market's reaction to these bonds. In May of this year, the rating agency Capital Intelligence announced Iran's short-term credit rating as B and long-term credit rating as negative BB, while also assessing Iran's economic outlook as "stable." In another part of his conversation with Bloomberg, Ali Tayebnia noted that the JCPOA has rescued Iran from "isolation," but he did not hide the fact that Iran still faces problems in banking relations, especially with major banks. Banking issues, particularly those arising from the continuation of dollar restrictions on Iran's banking transactions, are among the points that critics of President Hassan Rouhani's government and the JCPOA use to suggest that the signing and implementation of the JCPOA has not brought any achievements for Iran. Earlier, in April 2016, Valiollah Seif, the Governor of the Central Bank, criticized that "almost nothing" has been gained from the JCPOA. Mr. Seif has repeatedly expressed his criticisms of the resistance of economic and banking officials to establish normal banking relations with Iran during meetings with American and European officials or representatives of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. Currently, Iran's banking transactions with global banks using the intermediary currency dollar, known as "U-turn dollar," are impossible due to the restrictions imposed by the U.S. against Iran. These restrictions are said to be due to non-nuclear reasons and allegations of "financing terrorist groups by Iran" as well as anti-money laundering regulations. At the beginning of July this year, the Financial Action Task Force, which monitors the status of money laundering worldwide, decided to keep Iran on the blacklist of high-risk countries. This organization also announced that it welcomes Iran's promises for improvement and will suspend some restrictions for one year, but if Iran fails to improve its record regarding money laundering and financing terrorism as promised, severe measures will be taken.