Commercial Banks’ Arrears to CBI Halved

In the first quarter of the current Iranian year (started March 21), the total amount of three state-owned commercial banks' arrears to the Central Bank of Iran stood at 85.3 trillion rials ($2.2 billion), which indicate a drop of 55.5% compared with the corresponding period of last year.

According to CBI's latest report on Iran's economic indicators, the figure had surged by 54.2% during the same period of last year. Back then, the volume of debts exceeded 191 trillion rials ($5 billion).

Financial Tribune's survey showed that the revaluation of banks' assets and its subtraction from their debts to CBI was the major reason behind the decline in commercial banks' debts.

This is while during the same period, the government's debts to commercial banks went up by 30.7% year-on-year. The figure reached 432.1 trillion rials ($11.3 billion).

Private sector's arrears to commercial banks also went up by 20.7% to reach 1.43 quadrillion rials ($37.6 billion) by the end of the first quarter.

However, the amount of private sector's deposits in commercial banks reached 2.5 quadrillion rials ($65.7 billion) to experience a notable annual surge of 40.3%.    

Private Banks' Debts Triple

The report indicates that CBI's claims on private banks and credit institutions by the end of Q1 reached 421.8 trillion rials ($11.1 billion), marking a soaring rise of 309.2% in one year.

Private banks and credit institutions' arrears to CBI stood at 136 trillion rials ($3.57 billion) YOY.

Banking experts told Financial Tribune that the credit lines allocated by CBI to manage the crisis of unauthorized credit institutions were the main reason for the surge in debts.  

As cited in the report, the arrears of the government and private sector to private banks and credit institutions stood at 5.7 quadrillion rials ($150 billion) and 720 trillion rials ($19 billion) respectively. The former marked an increase of 27.1% while the latter went up by 36.4% YOY.

The private sector's deposits in credit institutions and private banks by the end of Q1 exceeded 9 quadrillion rials ($236.8 billion), showing a rise of 21% compared with the corresponding figure of last year.

Specialized Banks Curb Debts

The six state-run specialized banks also managed to curb their arrears to CBI by the end of Q1. The amount of their debts stood at 506.6 trillion rials ($13.3 billion), registering a 10.7% drop YOY.

CBI's report indicates that specialized banks managed to reduce their arrears while their dues from both the government and private sector increased.

By the end of the first 90 days of the new Iranian year to June 21, the government's arrears to specialized banks stood at 490 trillion rials ($12.9 billion) to mark an annual raise of 15.2% while the amount of private sector's debts exceeded 2 quadrillion rials ($52.6 billion), up by 12.4%, YOY.

This is while private sector's deposits in specialized banks reached 1.3 quadrillion rials ($34.2 billion), registering a year-on-year increase of 23.1%.