Cooperatives Bank Doles Out $770m in Loans

Tose’e Ta’avon Bank or the Cooperatives Development Bank of Iran has allocated about 30 trillion rials ($770 million) of loans throughout the country since the beginning of the current fiscal year (started March 21), its head of credit and investment department said. “These loans were handed out in agriculture, industries and mines, services, trade and housing sectors, with the industrial and mining sector getting the most funds,” Hamidreza Alborzi was also quoted as saying by IRNA. That is while the lender had doled out a total of 50 trillion rials ($1.28 billion) during the previous fiscal year. According to the official, the lender is struggling to back cooperatives as a result of a financial crunch that it aims to overcome by tapping into the resources of the National Development Fund of Iran, using funds held by government entities and establishing investment funds.