The Iranian banking sector’s total lending amounted to 1.7 quadrillion rials ($54 billion) in the five months to August 20 -- a 39% growth compared with the corresponding period last year.
Services, as the top borrower, took 769.5 trillion rials ($24.4 billion) worth of loans during the period. Meeting service providers’ need for working capital was the purpose of 58.2% of the loans, Central Bank of Iran website reported on Wednesday.
Industries and mining sector took out some 502.9 trillion rials ($15.9 billion) since the beginning of the fiscal year in March, 87% of which was to meet working capital needs. Starting a new business or expanding their operations were the other reasons for industries to borrow from the banks.
Banks also paid about 147 trillion rials ($4.6 billion) to the housing and construction sector, 32.6% of which were in the form of mortgages. Home renovation mortgage accounted for 17.7% of all loans to the housing sector.
Data released by the CBI indicates that 8% of loans was in the form of startup business loans, whereas working capital loans accounted for 67.7% of the total.
From the total credits, only 3.2% went into mortgages.
