TEHRAN - The fourth meeting of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and Industry, Mining and Trade Ministry’s joint working group on forex and trade coordination was held on Thursday to discuss related issues including the ways for directing export revenues into productive sectors.

The meeting was attended by senior officials including CBI Governor Ali Saleh-Abadi and Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Reza Fatemi-Amin, IRNA reported.

Pointing to the importance of an export-oriented view in the country's economy, Saleh-Abadi said, in the meeting, that an export-oriented view is a progressive economic view and those countries that follow such a view will be successful.

“In this regard, ministries and organizations must take steps towards policies and programs that lead to the inflow of foreign currency into the country,” Saleh-Abadi said.

The governor of the central bank also expressed hope for an increase in the country’s revenues in the next Iranian calendar year (starts on March 21), saying: "Supporting domestic production and investing in the country's economic infrastructure should be on the agenda and using the country’s foreign exchange resources for the import of unnecessary and luxury goods should be prevented."

Mentioning the implementation of a supply chain financing plan by the banking system to provide facilities to production units across the country, Saleh-Abadi said: “In financing production and industrial units, we use the capacities of this plan in coordination with the Industry Ministry so that we can make the best use of the country's monetary resources.”

Further in the meeting, Fatemi-Amin for his part emphasized the need for the coordination of forex and trade policies and stated: “Procedures related to non-oil exports and the guidance of export revenues into the country's trade and production cycle will be facilitated as a result of coordination among related agencies and organizations.”

The CBI and Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with seven acting banks in early January to collaborate on implementing a supply chain financing plan to provide facilities to production units across the country.

Under the framework of the mentioned MOU, CBI and the Industry Ministry cooperate with the acting banks to provide facilities to production units in various sectors including metals, construction, automobiles, home appliances, machinery, foodstuff, as well as chemical and petrochemical industries.

Unlike traditional methods of providing direct facilities by financial institutions, supply chain financing is a form of financial transaction wherein a third party facilitates an exchange by financing the supplier on the customer's behalf.

Back in December 2021, CBI had also inked an MOU with the country’s Trade Promotion Organization (TPO) to cooperate for developing non-oil exports and managing imports.

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Photo: Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Reza Fatemi-Amin (L) and CBI Governor Ali Saleh-Abadi