Agriculture received its lowest share of financing in the last four years, despite a 44 percent growth in lending during the previous fiscal year (ended March 20). The agriculture sector received a mere 255 trillion rials ($90 million at official exchange rate), out of the overall 1.4 quadrillion rials ($120 billion) of loans given during the period, ISNA reported. The agro sector having received only 7.5 percent of the loans provided indicates a 1.8 percent decrease compared with the amount the sector had received during the same period the year before that. According to statistics released by the Central Bank of Iran, during a four year period ending March 21, 2015, the annual share of the agro sector out of the overall amount of loans has been reported as 8.6, 9, 9.3, and 7.5 percent, respectively. Notably, 62.5 percent of the loans given to the sector during the previous fiscal year were granted for settling cash flow problems of businesses.
