Iranian commercial banks provided more than 2.38 quadrillion rials ($86.5 billion at official exchange rate) in loans in the first nine months to December 21, ISNA reported on Wednesday. Valiollah Seif, Central Bank of Iran (CBI) governor, had projected that by the end of the fiscal year (March 21), banks will give nearly 2.85 quadrillion rials ($104 billion) in loans. So far, nearly 83 percent of Seif’s expectations have been met. The predicted 2.85 quadrillion is now 470 trillion rials ($17 billion) short. The amount is predicted to be provided by year’s end, the report said. By November 21, 2014 the amount of loans provided stood at nearly 2 quadrillion rials ($74.9 billion). During the following month, an additional 320 trillion rials ($11.6 billion) were given. It is not therefore very farfetched for banks to be able to provide 470 trillion rials ($17 billion) in the remaining three months of the current fiscal year, the report explained. More than 60 percent of the overall loans provided so far have been used to shore up cash flow problems of the Iranian businesses.
