TEHRAN - Iran’s Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade’s data show that 113.922 trillion rials (about $383.57 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 eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-November 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 3,039 projects and production units in 31 provinces, IRNA 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), and since then over 12,124 production units and SMEs have registered for receiving the mentioned loans.

Based on the said program, 201.299 trillion rials of facilities (about $745.5 million) were paid to SMEs and semi-finished projects to support domestic production and maintain or create job opportunities in the previous Iranian calendar year (ended on March 20).

In early May 2019, Former CBI Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati had outlined CBI plans for neutralizing or relieving the impact of U.S. sanctions on the country’s economy and mentioned providing liquidity and working capital to maintain and boost domestic production as one of those plans.

According to CBI data, the Iranian banking system has paid a total of 17.274 quadrillion rials (over $58.1 billion) of facilities to domestic economic sectors in the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar, registering a 59.2-percent rise from the same period in the previous year.

Banks paid 11.481 quadrillion rials (about $38.65 billion) of facilities to various economic sectors in the previous year’s first eight months.

Back in November, the CBI had announced that 14.828 quadrillion rials (over $49.92 billion) of facilities were paid to domestic economic sectors in the first seven months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-October 22), to register a 58.5-percent rise from the same period in the previous year.

EF/MA