TEHRAN – Per capita income stands at $13,000 in Iran, said Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Shamseddin Hosseini, adding that the International Monetary Fund has named the country as the 17th major economy in the world.

 

Per capita income is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. Per capita income is often used as a measure of the wealth of the population of a nation, particularly in comparison to other nations.

 

Between 2006 and 2011, the gross domestic product (GDP) of Iran increased from $241 billion to $482 billion, the IRNA News Agency quoted Hosseini as saying.

 

He also added that the value of the capital market rose to around $110 billion from $53 billion.

 

Foreign direct investment in Iran amounted to $4.3 billion last year, which ended on March 19, almost a two fold increase on the previous year.

 

Foreign investment plans in Iran amounted to $5.3 billion last year, showing 27 percent growth compared to the year before, deputy economy minister Behrouz Alishiri said on April 2.

 

IRNA news agency quoted Alishiri as saying that up to three billion dollars of foreign investment was transacted last year. 

 

Some 1.1 trillion dollars of investment is needed for the length of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2010-2015) to materialize a 8-percent growth rate, Alishiri said on February 26.

 

Domestic sources have the potential to meet around 56 percent of the required sum, while the rest should be provided through foreign investment, he noted.

 

Iran needs up to $300 billion in foreign direct investment (FDI) to meet the objectives of its Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (2010-2015), Alishiri said.