Iran to inject over $10bn of oil revenues to its sovereign fund: Report

The Iranian government will inject more than $10 billion worth of its oil and gas export revenues into the country’s sovereign wealth fund in the calendar year to late March, according to a report citing budget figures.

The Sunday report by Tasnim news agency said that the government is supposed to supply 9.77 billion euros from its oil and gas exports to the National Development Fund of Iran (NDFI) this calendar year, including the equivalent of 3.6 billion euros for the purpose of strengthening Iran’s defense capacities.

The report said gas export revenues deemed to be transferred to the NDFI will amount to nearly $1 billion this calendar year.

The NDFI is independent of the government's budget and is responsible for transforming nearly a third of Iran’s petroleum export revenues into productive investments for future generations.

However, revenues allocated to the Fund have declined in recent years amid US sanctions that have affected Iran’s oil exports.

Central Bank of Iran (CBI) figures show that Iran exported some $67 billion worth of crude oil in the calendar year to March 20 despite the pressure of US sanctions.

The Iranian government is allowed to tap the Fund for emergency purposes, as it has done in the past years for cases like fighting the coronavirus pandemic and for dealing with the impacts of floods that destroyed rural areas of the country in 2019.

The Tasnim report said that the Iranian government will be able to receive loans worth 8.64 billion euros ($9.5 billion) from the NDFI in the calendar year to late March.

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