TEHRAN - Iranian Deputy Industry Minister Saeed Zarandi said that 250 production companies have announced readiness for offering their shares in the stock exchange, ILNA reported.

“The goal is to use capital market capacities to boost production, and now 250 companies have announced their readiness to enter the stock market,” Zarandi said.

Mentioning the problem that the industry sector is facing for funding its projects, the official noted that the banking system, alone, cannot provide enough capital for the industry sectors so new sources of capital are to be utilized.

“According to our calculations, we needed 5.75 quadrillion rials (which is about $137 billion) to manage the industry sectors like the previous year (ended on March 19) even without considering the goals of the surge in production [for the current year], and the banking system has announced that only 3.25 quadrillion rials (about $77.3 billion) can be allocated to this sector so we have moved towards using the capital market,” he explained.

The first step in this direction was to acquaint the production units with the steps for entering the stock market, he said.

The official further stressed that to remove barriers in the way of the production, it is necessary for all governmental bodies to amend their perspective, and to focus their strategies and policies on the development of advanced industries, and on industries with higher value-added.

In early June, Zarandi had said that 100 production companies were expected to be listed on the stock exchange of the country by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2021).

Making the remarks during a meeting on expanding financial resources for the production sector through the capital market, the official noted, “The industrial data for the previous years indicate that the main problem in industry and production sectors and also trade sector is lack of liquidity, and it is while the country is facing a high volume of liquidity.”

The current Iranian calendar year (began on March 20) is named the year of “Surge in Production” by the Leader of Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei.

While materializing this motto requires all-out cooperation between the state-owned and private bodies, the country’s stock market is taking some big steps to play a significant role in this due.

The market is trying to attract the liquidity existing in the society toward production and development projects, and many ministries and organizations including the Ministry of Transport and Urban Development have already announced that they are planning to fund their development projects through the stock market.

EF/MA