Banks and credit institutions lent 3.03 quadrillion rials ($22.13 billion) to various sectors during the first six months of the current fiscal that ended on September 22, the Central Bank of Iran said.
According to a report posted on the regulator's website on Saturday, the loans were up by 327.9 trillion rials ($2.39 billion) or 12.1% compared to the corresponding period last year. The money was given within an estimated 4.34 million loans.
As usual, the services sector was at the top of the list with 2.41 million loans worth 1.23 quadrillion rials ($9 billion). It was followed by the industry and mine sector that borrowed 846.74 trillion rials ($6.18 billion) in the form of 134,146 loans.
The trade sector took out 507,262 loans worth 415.12 trillion rials ($3.03 billion). The lenders then prioritized the agriculture sector with loans worth 276.4 trillion rials ($2.01 billion) and the housing and construction sector that was eligible for 258.2 trillion rials ($1.88 billion).
A total of 1,434 loans worth 2.47 trillion rials ($18.04 million) was listed as miscellaneous in the CBI report.
Loans allocated for increasing working capital accounted for the lion's share at 61.4% or about 1.86 quadrillion rials ($13.58 billion) -- 136.6 trillion rials ($997.08 million) or 7.9% higher than the total number of working capital loans paid in the corresponding period last year.
‘Miscellaneous’ loans had the second highest share at 10.1% or 306 trillion rials ($2.23 billion). Loans for establishing a business had a share of 8.7% or 264.58 trillion rials ($1.93 billion) and personal loans had a 7.4% share worth 224.24 trillion rials ($1.63 billion).
Next in line were housing loans with a share of 5.4% or 163.94 trillion rials ($1.19 billion), followed by loans for development purposes with a 5.1% share or 156.1 trillion rials ($1.13 billion) and loans for ‘repairs’ had a share of 1.8% or 55.94 trillion rials ($408.39 million).
The industries and mining sector took out 694.44 trillion rials ($5.06 billion) in loans or 37.3% of the total lending in the form of working capital. It constituted 82% of all loans handed out to such businesses that the central bank said indicates the priority given to resource allocation by banks and credit institutions.
Loans in the form of working capital constituted 73.5% of all loans given to traders, followed by agro sector with 66.3%, miscellaneous 57.6%, services 51.1%, and the housing and construction 18.3%. Loans in the form of working capital had the largest share except for the housing and construction sector in which loans for buying houses took the major share in this sector with 51.2% share or 132.3 trillion rials ($965.7 million).
In terms of average amount of loans, industries and mines again emerged at the top and had the highest per-loan average of 6.3 billion rials ($45,985) and the services sector had the lowest per-loan average of 500 million rials ($3,650).
