TEHRAN – The head of Iran’s National Development Fund (NDF) said the fund has loaned $36 billion to various economic projects over the past 10 years, of which only $5.0 billion has been returned, IRNA reported.

Speaking in a press conference on Sunday, Mehdi Ghazanfari said: “In the last 10 years, 3.7 billion dollars was allocated to 46 power plant projects with a total capacity of 7,200 megawatts, of which 6,000 megawatts were completed and went operational, but only 100 million dollars of the paid loans have been returned.”

The fund has also lent $16.5 billion to 56 oil and gas projects, and only $1.2 billion of the mentioned loans have been repaid, and $10 billion have not been returned, Ghazanfari regrated.

The official noted that the fund plans to pay $2.0 billion of facilities to renewable power plant projects in the country with a total capacity of 15,000 megawatts.

He further noted that the parliament has approved a bill based on which the government has been obliged to pay $100 billion of the NDF dues from the income of the country’s oil and gas fields over the next five years under the framework of the Seventh National Development Plan (2022-2026).

EF/