TEHRAN, Iran — TEHRAN, Iran (AP) —
Iran’s president said Saturday that his country needs about $100 billion in foreign investment to meet an annual economic growth target of 8 percent, up from the current 4 percent.
The comments by Masoud Pezeshkian, who was elected in July, came during his first live television interview on state television.
According to Pezeshkian, Iran needs $250 billion to reach its goal, but more than half is available from domestic resources. Experts estimate that an 8% GDP growth would reduce double-digit inflation and unemployment rates.
Hundreds of entities and individuals in Iran — from the central bank and government officials to drone producers and money changers — are already under international sanctions, many of them accused of materially supporting the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps and foreign militant groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis.
In his interview, Pezeshkian complained about the sanctions and said his administration planned to reduce inflation, which runs more than 40 percent a year, “if we solve our problems with our neighbors and the world.” He did not elaborate.
Pezeshkian confirmed that his first foreign visit would be to neighboring Iraq, and then he would travel to New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly meeting on September 22-23. He said that in New York, he would meet with Iranian expatriates to invite them to invest in Iran. Of the more than 8 million Iranian expatriates, about 1.5 million live in the United States.
Pezeshkian, seen as a reformer, was sworn in last month and parliament approved his cabinet in early August, promising a softer tone at home and abroad. His predecessor, Ebrahim Raisi, a hard-line protégé of Iran’s supreme leader who led the country as it enriched uranium to near-wartime levels, died in a helicopter crash in May, along with seven others.
Iran’s economy has been struggling since 2018, after then-President Donald Trump withdrew the United States from a deal to limit Tehran’s nuclear program and imposed new sanctions. Pezeshkian said during his presidential campaign that he would try to revive the nuclear deal.
ABC News
