Banks will give new loans to households impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, the economy minister said.
Ehsan Khandouzi said Qarzol-Hasana (interest-free) loans worth 100 million rials ($345) will be given to breadwinners, IBENA reported.
Heads of households infected by Covid and confined to hospitals will be eligible. They shouldn’t be employed or receive fixed wages.
Bank Qarzolhasana Mehr Iran and Gharzolhasana Resalat Bank are designated as the two lenders.
According to Abbas Moradpour, the deputy economy minister for banking, insurance, and state-owned companies' affairs, eligible borrowers are being identified with the help of data from the health and labor ministries.
“Those eligible for Covid loans will be informed by phone or text message,” he was quoted as saying.
The loans should be repaid in three years with monthly installments of 3 million rials.
The brutal pandemic hit households at the lower-end of the economic ladder hard as businesses folded forcing employers to down shutters and/or furlough.
As the human cost of Covid continues to rise, large sections of wage-earners are finding it extremely difficult to make ends meet.
At the onset of pandemic in early 2020, the CBI announced expansionary fiscal policies to help prop up businesses and said it injected 750 trillion rials ($2.5 billion) into the economy, of which 500 trillion rials ($1.7b) was in loans to SMEs and the balance to needy families in the form of interest-free micro credit.
The coronavirus has claimed more than 130,000 lives in Iran and afflicted 6.2 million people, according to IRNA. Thanks to the national vaccination campaign, fatalities and infections have remarkably declined in recent days.
The deadly virus businesses far and wide, notably the tourism and hospitality sector, transport companies, travel agencies, apparel manufacturers and the sports and leisure industry.
