The Money and Credit Council ratified a proposal for increasing the credit ceiling for Mehr Housing Scheme by 550 trillion rials ($18.3 billion at the official exchange rate) to 554 trillion rial ($18.5 billion) to wrap up the highly controversial and costly public housing scheme by the end of the next Iranian fiscal year (March 2017), according to the statement posted on the website of the Central Bank of Iran.
The approval comes after another measure by the MCC in early January, under which banks were required to raise the ceiling of loans granted to the Mehr scheme applicants from 250 million rials ($7,352) to 300 million rials ($8,823). The CBI-affiliated council, however, announced that priority will be given to unfinished projects which will be completed with the help of the new loans. Furthermore, lenders will be responsible for assessing the progress of the projects and their eligibility for receiving loans.
However, as of late May, Bank Maskan, the main provider of housing mortgage, was unable to introduce any new projects that would meet the MCC-mandated eligibility for an increase in the credit ceiling.
It should be noted that the council had once raised the credit ceiling for the entire Mehr scheme to 450 trillion rial ($15 billion) in 2013. It also raised the overall loan ceiling from 480 trillion rial ($16 billion) to 550 trillion rial ($18.4 billion).
