The National Development Fund of Iran says it considers lending to manufactures a top priority, said Mohammad Ghasem Hosseini, deputy chairman of NDFI on Monday. He added that considerable volumes of the loans are offered in foreign exchange.
Speaking at a business meeting in Qom Province, the official said the fund’s resources in the national currency stand at 30 trillion rials ($1 billion) which is meager compared to the needs of manufactures. He urged investors and manufacturers to focus on the fund’s forex resources.
“The fund has no restrictions in paying loans in foreign exchange to manufacturing units since only 20% of the fund’s resources are in rials.” Hosseini said that the procedure for granting loans which has been lengthy and complex has been revised and the body is working on plans to allocate funds to all provinces. However, he warned against squandering the resources of th wealth fund saying that it should be “preserved for future generations and national development.
NDFI, which is independent of the government budget, was founded in 2011. According to Article 84 of the Fifth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2011–2016), the fund uses a part of oil revenues for sustainable development plans.
