Iran sells over $65M of state shares over 3.5 months

Some 2.15 trillion rials (about $65.1 million based on free market rate) of shares of Iranian government companies were sold over the past 3.5 months.

According to Securities and Exchange News Agency (SENA), 1.56 trillion rials (about $47.2 million) of the shares were transferred to the private sector on the Tehran Stock Market.

Also, 210 billion rials (about $6.3 million) of shares were sold on the over-the-counter market and 370 billion rials (about $11.2 million) were sold through holding tenders.

The Iranian government has envisioned a large privatization program in the Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (2010-2015), aiming to privatize about 20 percent of state-owned firms each year. Under the present interpretation of the Article 44 of Iran's Constitution, hundreds of state-owned companies have been privatized. (Trend.az)