699K Jobs Salvaged by Covid-19 Relief Aid Given to Businesses

A total of 699,000 jobs were safeguarded throughout the coronavirus crisis as a result of loans extended by the government to businesses under the Covid-19 relief assistance program. 
According to Alaeddin Azvaji, the director general of Policymaking and Job Department of the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare, a total of 235 trillion rials ($940 million) in loans were allocated to 14 groups of businesses, including 858 subgroups in the first stage of the program. 
In the second stage, which is still underway, four sectors of “transportation”, “tourism and handicraft industries”, “sports and youth”, and “culture and art”, were found eligible to receive, respectively, 37,000 billion rials ($148 million), 20,000 billion rials ($80 million), 8,000 billion rials ($32 million) and 18,000 billion rials ($72 million) in loans.