Iran’s Sovereign Wealth Fund Says It Has Assets Worth $150bn

Iran’s sovereign wealth fund has rejected claims it has been depleted of resources by saying that assets owned by the fund is worth some $150 billion.

In a statement issued on Sunday, the National Development Fund of Iran (NDFI) said that it had attracted some $154.5 billion worth of resources since 2010 when it was formed.

The statement said loans granted to successive administrations in Iran had reached $100.8 billion between 2010 and late March 2023.

It added that the Fund had also granted loans worth $40 billion to the private sector and non-governmental entities in Iran.

“That means that the NDFI is currently a fund worth $150 billion,” said the statement, adding that it will exhaust all measures to force borrowers to accelerate the repayment of the loans they have received from the Fund. 

The statement said the fund has also introduced major investment projects in recent years to boost its resources and earnings.

It comes after reports published in local media suggested that the NDFI had only $10 billion in resources in an account held in the Central Bank of Iran.

The NDFI operates independently of Iranian government’s budget. Its main mission is to use Iran's oil and gas export revenues for infrastructure and productive projects that could benefit future generations in Iran.

That comes as US sanctions on Iran’s oil exports have caused a decline in earnings of the NDFI since 2018 when the sanctions were imposed.