TEHRAN – The Iranian government plans to establish a National Development Fund to supplant the Oil Stabilization Fund in a bid to curb shock effects of the global oil price fluctuations on the country’s economy, the deputy finance minister said here on Sunday.

“Our economy is dependent on oil (revenues), so the oil price plunge impacts it,” Mohammad-Hadi Zahedi-Vafa said, predicting that the oil price will raise in future, the Mehr News Agency reported.
On the impacts of the global financial crisis on Iran’s economy and stock market, Zahedi-Vafa said, thanks to the fact that Iran’s capital markets are not integrated with international markets the crisis had no direct effect on the country’s financial market.
However, with the downing prices of industrial and mineral products in the international level, Iran’s stock market will be affected under such circumstances, he noted.
The deputy minister went on to say that the plan to detach Iran’s economy from oil revenues has been on the agenda for several years.
The National Development Fund corporate charter and mechanism will be defined based on the Fifth Five-Year Development Plan, he added.
The National Development Fund is to extend financial facilities to private, cooperative and non-governmental sectors in an effort to promote domestic and foreign investment