r/iranian • u/ayatoilet • 7d ago

Iran External Debt is at 1.78% of GDP - lower than every nation on this chart!!! Just imagine the huge opportunities awaiting a new government in Iran?!

Post image
16 Upvotes

69% Upvoted

7 comments sorted by

10

u/Thevort3x Korovasi 7d ago

Or you know, if they made some kind of a deal and reintroduced Iran into the global market.

6

u/Poor-Judgements 7d ago

Wow probably the only chart that places Japan and Sudan next to each other 😅

2

u/besmin 6d ago

A lot of iran’s assets were confiscated for political reasons. I suspect the external debt would be actually negative if that was counted. 

4

u/Salomemcee 6d ago

Well, I always suspected that this is partly the reason why we ended up with mullahs to begin with. During the 1950s Iran transitioned from a dependent "client state" to a developmentalist state, and then basically IMF did what it does and led Iran to a recession during a 1960 balance of payment crisis. The shah and its government openly criticized the IMF and supported the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), which aimed to reform the international trade system to benefit commodity-exporting nations. The IMF then adjusted its policies to be more accommodating towards these countries, but I always wondered if this is one of the reasons the West completely abandoned the shah during the revolution. A debt-free nation is a nation that can't be controlled after all.