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BIM Gives $2b in Business Loans

BIM Gives $2b in Business Loans
BIM Gives $2b in Business Loans

The CEO of Bank of Industry and Mine announced that the specialized bank managed to get $2 billion in credits through the National Development Fund of Iran (NDFI) over the last year ( ended March 20) to provide loans for industrial projects.    

Although the bank has a few branches and faced economic difficulties due to the nuclear-related sanctions, it helped the government implement the plan to exit recession, said Ali Ashraf Afkhami on Saturday in a meeting attended by members of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines (ICCIM) and entrepreneurs.

NDFI -- Iran’s sovereign wealth fund-- was founded in 2011  to transform oil and gas revenues to productive investment for future generations. Earlier, Mohammad Ghasem Hosseini, NDFI’s deputy manager, called on commercial banks to assess industrial projects and give them loans.

Afkhami said he believes that provision of loans for efficient projects would help manufacturing recover, IRNA reported.

He also called on parliament members to approve a law that would grant banks more authority to provide investors with loans through less-bureaucratic procedures.

 Ongoing Projects  

He also pointed to the seven steel-projects proposed in 2005 to help increase  national steel production to 55 million tons by 2025 (as stated in Iran Vision 2025) but the projects were delayed for years due to lack of funds.

Bank of Industry and Mine has now managed all  the projects. It recently allocated 800 million euros  for four of them.

Afkhami said the bank is also planning to fund the petrochemical projects suspended for the past 7-8 years.

The chief executive said his bank has set aside $1.8 billion for Tehran-Qom-Isfahan railway as part of  funding for infrastructure projects.

The lender also plans to finance water-related investments to increase fresh water production capacity in Hormozgan province to one million cubic meters a day from the current 250,000 cubic meters.

 

Financialtribune.com