TEHRAN - Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade’s data show that 31.187 trillion rials (about $742.5 million) has been paid to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and semi-finished industrial projects with an over 60 percent physical progress during the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-June 21).

The mentioned facilities, which are provided for renewing machinery, equipping production units, or completing semi-finished projects, have been paid in the form of bank loans to 917 projects and production units, IRIB reported.

The program for offering bank facilities to SMEs and semi-finished projects was kicked off in February 2019 by the Industry Ministry in collaboration with the Central Bank of Iran (CBI).

According to the Industry Ministry data, under the framework of the mentioned program 2,023 SMEs and semi-finished projects in 31 provinces registered to receive facilities in the said quarter.

***Over $259m paid to export companies in Q1

The Iranian banking system has also paid 10.891 trillion rials (about $259.3 million) of facilities to export-oriented production units during the said three months, according to the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry’s data.

The mentioned facilities have been paid to 56 such companies in the mentioned period.

Based on the mentioned data, 51 exported-oriented companies have also been introduced to banks to receive 12.704 trillion rials (about $302.4 million) of facilities in the near future.

As reported, over 23.422 trillion rials (about $557.6 million) of facilities have been paid to export-oriented companies in the 13-month period from May 21, 2020, to June 21, 2021.

Promoting exports in line with the support of domestic production has been one of the main strategies of the Ministry of Industry over the past two years.

In this regard, the trade policies of the ministry for the current Iranian calendar year (started on March 21), which is named the year of “Production: Support and Elimination of Obstacles”, have been mainly focused on the development of production, employment and development of non-oil exports and eventually entering new markets.

According to the latest CBI data, the Iranian banking system paid 4.976 quadrillion rials (over $118.4 billion) of facilities to domestic economic sectors in the first three months of the current Iranian calendar year, registering a 71.3-percent rise from the same period in the previous year.

EF/MA