A nation under sanctions: What Iran's experience can tell us about Russia's fight against Western pressure

Iran among world’s top countries with lowest foreign debt

Brunei, Liechtenstein, New Zealand, Turkmenistan, New Caledonia, Nigeria, Iran, Algeria, Greenland, and the Virgin Islands are the world’s top 10 countries with the lowest foreign debt to GDP ratio, respectively.

According to the latest statistics released by international entities, Iran's foreign debt currently stands at about $7.12 billion, which means the per capita share of each Iranian is $90.

The ratio of Iran's foreign debt to its GDP is only two percent.

The figure is 32 percent for Russia, 33 percent for South Korea, 59 percent for the United Arab Emirates (UAE), 63 percent for Turkey, 68 percent for Malaysia, 83 percent for Qatar, and 96 percent for Japan.

In some countries, such as the United States, Australia, Italy, Germany, Spain, France, Switzerland, the UK, and Singapore, the amount of foreign debt is even higher than their GDP.

Back in February, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) had put the country’s foreign debt at $9.067 billion by the end of the eighth month of the previous Iranian calendar year (November 21, 2021).

Of the total foreign debt, $6.619 billion was mid-term and long-term debts while $2.447 billion was short-term debts, the data indicated, IRIB reported.

External debt is the portion of a country's debt that is borrowed from foreign lenders including commercial banks, governments, or international financial institutions. These loans, including interest, must usually be paid in the currency in which the loan was made.

Foreign debt as a percentage of GDP is the ratio between the debt a country owes to non-resident creditors and its nominal GDP.

For the dollar lover in you:

Kirosh responds to the official offer of the Iraqi Federation | The great dream of the Portuguese coach
The former head coach of Iran reacted to the offer to coach the Iraqi national team.

The next destination of Carlos Queiroz after leaving the Egyptian national team has been widely covered in our country's media. According to Egyptian media, Kirosh has received offers from Iran, Tunisia, Australia and Iraq. Of course, the discussion of coaching in Iran was accompanied by the reaction of the secretary general of the federation and the denial of this rumor.

The Portuguese coach reacted to the official offer of the Iraqi federation and said: "I can not accept the offer of coaching the Iraqi national team because attending the 2023 Asian Cup in China is not my priority and I thank the offer of the Iraqi federation."

Iran To Waive Visa Fees For 2022 FIFA World Cup Fans In Nearby Qatar

In January, Iran qualified for the 2022 FIFA World Cup finals, the third in a row and their sixth overall. Iran, who have never advanced beyond the group stage, will face arch-foe the United States and England in Group B.

• Agence France-Presse
• Updated: April 13, 2022 05:38 PM IST

The FIFA World Cup will be held in Qatar this year.© AFP

Iran announced Wednesday that it will waive visa fees for spectators of the 2022 World Cup finals, as it hopes to attract some of the football fans flocking to nearby Qatar. "The cabinet agreed to make visas free for spectators of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar who wish to visit Iran," tweeted the spokesman of the Iranian government, Ali Bahadori-Jahromi.

"This decision aims to encourage tourists to visit Iran during the World Cup and boost the tourism industry there," he added.

 

This comes after Qatari Transport Minister Jassim bin Saif al-Sulaiti on Sunday and Monday visited Iran's Kish island and signed six cooperation agreements, Iran's official IRNA news agency reported.

Kish, a 92 square kilometre (35 square mile) resort island with white sand beaches, is a 40-minute flight or six-hour boat ride from Doha.

"The Qataris are very interested in using Iran's infrastructure in the 2022 World Cup," Iran's Transport Minister Rostam Ghassemi said Tuesday.

 

"Iran must use all the capabilities it has to benefit from this event," he added.

Key among the agreements was a deal to increase flights between the countries, rising from 72 at present to potentially as many as 200 a day, said Mohammad Mohammadi, the head of Iran's Civil Aviation Organisation.

 

The Qatari transport minister visited the passenger terminal of Kish International Airport, which is under construction, as well as the commercial and passenger port, IRNA added.

"Iran's contribution to the World Cup will be in the areas of air and sea transport and accommodation of foreign and Iranian passengers," Ghassemi said.

 

"We also plan to offer foreign fans and tourists during their stay in Iran the opportunity to visit the country's tourist gems."

To encourage travel, Iran's tourism ministry had said earlier that visas could be waived for inbound visitors from Qatar during the two months of World Cup.

 

Visitors could apply for free single or multi-entry passes for 20 days during that period, the ministry said.

 

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In January, Iran qualified for the World Cup finals, the third in a row and their sixth overall.

Iran, who have never advanced beyond the group stage, will face arch foe the United States and England in Group B.

China: US is the world's number one economic bandit

A Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman criticized the country's policies in a Twitter message, referring to the freezing of Iranian currency abroad as a result of US sanctions.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying wrote on her Twitter page about US sanctions policies against other countries, including Iran:  Freezing Iran's foreign exchange reserves. Seizure of Afghan assets. Blocking $ 300 billion in gold reserves and foreign exchange reserves and assets of institutions and individuals abroad. Surely these are enough to make the United States the world's number one economic bandit?