TEHRAN- Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has supplied $6.124 billion for importing basic commodities and medicine in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-October 21), IRNA reported.

According to the CBI office of public relations, the priorities for the imports of the mentioned goods, in terms of type and amount, have been determined by the ministries of industry, agriculture, and health.

Based on CBI data, the bank plans to supply a total of $8 billion for the imports of basic goods in the current Iranian calendar year, of which $5.5 billion is going to be allocated for major consumable goods like corn, oilseeds, crude oil, meal, barley and wheat, over $1.5 billion will be supplied for the imports of medicine, and about $1 billion is going to go to the imports of medical equipment.

As reported by CBI, so far most of the currency allocated by the bank has been used for the imports of consumable goods.

Accordingly, in the mentioned seven months, $1.624 billion has been allocated for importing corn, $260 million for barley, $777 million for oil seeds, $778 million for oil, $638 million for soy press cake, $330 million for wheat and $40 million for the imports of fertilizers.

During the said period, $615 million was allocated for the imports of medical equipment and $985 million for medicine and raw materials for producing medicine.

Earlier this month, CBI Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati had said that the bank supplied over $5.267 billion for importing basic goods in the first six months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-April 19).

According to Hemmati, despite the U.S. sanctions and the pressures imposed on the Iranian economy, the country managed to supply over $35 billion for the imports of basic commodities in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 19).

The official said that of the mentioned figure, about $14 billion was allocated for importing essential goods such as medicine, medical equipment, and livestock feed, and the rest was used for supplying raw materials and machinery.

EF/MA