TEHRAN- Iranian deputy industry minister announced that 740 trillion rials (about $17.619 billion) of loans will be paid to the production units in the country in the current Iranian calendar year (March 2018-March 2019), IRNA reported.

Sadeq Najafi, who is also the head of Iran Small Industries and Industrial Parks Organization, said some part of the mentioned loans is allocated as the governmental budget and the rest will be paid by the banks.

On May 6, Deputy Industry Minister Ali Rahmani announced that 28,602 production units received banking loans during the last Iranian calendar year.

The allocated loans were at the value of 200 trillion rials (about $4.76 billion), he said.

In late January, Najafi said during the next four years 161,000 new job opportunities will be created in 20,000 small industrial units across the country.

He noted that in this regard a program has been established for renewing and supporting the country’s small industries.

According to the official, small industries account for 92 percent of the country’s total industrial body and currently 85,000 of such units are active across the country, of them, 1,700 ones are large and industrial and the rest are medium and small-sized.

MA