Iran's Minister of Economy and Finance Davood Danesh Jaafari said Wednesday that US$10.76 billion in foreign investment has been pumped into the Iranian economy, excluding the oil sector, in this Iranian calendar year of 1386 (March 21, 2007-March 20, 2008).
According to IRNA, Danesh Jaafari told reporters following the weekly cabinet meeting that the figure stood at US$10.27 billion the previous year. The minister said the figure on foreign investments has been estimated based on latest agreements reached between foreign and Iranian officials.
Referring to refusal of certain Chinese banks to render banking services to Iranian traders, he said fluctuations might be bserved in commercial transactions but what's of importance is growing trend of transactions. He conveyed the volume of Iran's imports grew by at least seven percent this year compared to last year's figure of US$ 41 billion.