Iran’s stockmarket is soaring – but its not based on a healthy economy. GDP shrank by 5.4% in the past year.
Due to Western sanctions against Iran, local money can’t be invested overseas and thus has nowhere else to go. High inflation also makes the index look healthier than it really is, boosting the nominal price of stocks although their real value hasn’t risen.
Tehran’s market is in a “sanctions-subsidised… bubble”, says Paul Sullivan of America’s National Defense University.