Iranian banks and credit institutions lent 3.58 quadrillion rials ($27.33 billion) to various sectors during the first seven months of the current fiscal that ended on October 22, the Central Bank of Iran said.
According to a report on the regulator's website, the loans were up by 445.2 trillion rials ($3.39 billion) or 14.2% compared to the corresponding period last year and were given to an estimated 5.22 million borrowers.
As usual, the services sector was at the top of the list with 2.91 million loans worth 1.46 quadrillion rials ($11.15 billion). It was followed by the industry and mine companies that borrowed 993.31 trillion rials ($7.58 billion).
The trade sector took out 607,316 loans worth 495.82 trillion rials ($3.78 billion). After that lenders prioritized the agriculture sector with loans worth 320.86 trillion rials ($2.44 billion) and the housing and construction sector that was eligible for 306.88 trillion rials ($2.34 billion).
A total of 1,878 loans worth 2.86 trillion rials ($21.88 million) was listed as miscellaneous in the CBI report.
Loans for increasing working capital accounted for the lion's share at 60.3% or about 2.15 quadrillion rials ($16.47 billion) -- 189 trillion rials ($1.44 billion) or 9.6% higher than the total number of working capital loans given during the corresponding period last year.
‘Miscellaneous’ loans had the second highest share at 10.3% or 369.24 trillion rials ($2.81 billion). Loans for establishing a business had a share of 9% or 323.82 trillion rials ($2.47 billion) and personal loans had a 7.8% share worth 277.84 trillion rials ($2.12 billion).
Next in line were housing loans with a share of 5.4% or 192.22 trillion rials ($1.46 billion), followed by loans for development purposes with a 5.2% share or 185.65 trillion rials ($1.41 billion) and loans for ‘repairs’ had a share of 2.1% or 74.07 trillion rials ($565.41 million).
The industries and mining sector took out 807.1 trillion rials ($6.16 billion) in loans or 37.4% of the total lending in the form of working capital. It constituted 81.3% of all loans handed out to such businesses that the CBI said indicates priority given to resource allocation by lenders.
Loans in the form of working capital constituted 73.5% of all loans given to traders, followed by the agro sector with 65.4%, miscellaneous 58.8%, services 49.4%, and the housing and construction 17.5%. 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 with 50.6% or 155.4 trillion rials ($1.18 billion).
In terms of average amount of loans, industries and mines again emerged at the top and had the highest per-loan average of 6.2 billion rials ($47,328) and the services sector had the lowest average at 500 million rials ($3,817).
