A trilateral agreement was signed by the Export Guarantee Fund of Iran, Export Development Bank of Iran and Arzesh Afarinan Pasargad Group to support the completion of export-based projects with up to €50 million in loans.
The three sides will create a consortium to provide unfinished projects funds in in the next three months, said Afrouz Bahrami, the EGFI chief. EDBI will function as the agent bank and EGFI will be responsible for guaranteeing the repayment of loans, ILNA reported.
EGFI is a state-owned export credit agency and has prioritized action to help expand Iran's export.
In the present difficult economic climate promoting exports is crucial and senior officials have often appealed to companies to focus time, money and energy on expanding their export footprint in the region and beyond.
Iran exported over 21.92 million tons of goods worth $6.36 billion in spring to register a 43.98% and 45.12% decline in value and volume, respectively, year-on-year.
“This agreement will hopefully deliver and support the export sector with forex funding from banks," Bahrami said.
Earlier Bahrami had criticized the poor lending performance of banks and their refusal to support export-based companies, recalling that meaningful financial support for export companies now is necessary more than ever before, among other things, due to mounting US hostility and its illegal economic sanctions.
"Banks and credit institutions hardly allocate 2% of their funds to help businesses involved in exporting goods and services," she complained.
EDBI is one of the five state-owned development banks involved in assisting import-export companies.
Arzesh Afarinan Pasargad Group is an investment company affiliated to Bank Pasargad Iran.
The state-owned export credit agency, affiliated to the Ministry of Industries, Mining and Trade, is in charge of promoting non-oil exports by providing local companies export guarantees and insurance to cover risks.
