Iran’s economy minister has claimed that over the past few years, the “savings rate of Iranians has even been higher than that of the Gulf’s border countries.”

Ali Madani-zadeh, continuing his claim, said that 20 percent of people’s savings have been taken out of the economic investment cycle, and that one of the ways to attract it is an exchange-rate investment fund.

His claim comes while even official figures show a growing gap between household incomes and expenses and the expansion of poverty in society; to such an extent that people have even been forced to significantly reduce their consumption of some essential foods such as meat and dairy.

Madani-zadeh also, without mentioning the increasing tensions between the Islamic Republic and the international community, sanctions, a naval blockade, and the fall in the value of the rial, emphasized the need to bring foreign exchange resources from abroad and said these resources could happen through investment by Iranians abroad or through foreign investors investing inside Iran.

His remarks come while Tahmorath Lahouti, Deputy Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade (صمت), has recently announced that after the start of the war, foreign investment in Iran has reached zero.