$2b in Chinese Finance for Building 5 Hospitals in Iran

China signed a contract with Iran on Monday to extend $2 billion in finance for the construction of five hospitals in the Islamic Republic.

The finance will be provided by the Exim Bank of China and China Development Bank.

The agreement was signed in the presence of Iran’s Health Minister Hassan Qazizadeh Hashemi, IRNA reported.

The projects include two 1,000-bed hospitals for Shahid Beheshti University of Tehran, a 1,000-bed hospital for Iran’s University of Medical Sciences, a 330-bed hospital and a 540-bed hospital for Iran’s University of Medical Sciences.

These are to be built under the supervision of Iran’s Health Ministry within four years.

Exim Bank of China has financed dozens of projects in Iran.

Sun Ping, vice president of the bank, had said in July that $8.5 billion worth of loans have so far been granted by the bank to fund Iranian projects. He made the statement on the sidelines of a ceremony to sign the finance contract for the electrification of Tehran-Mashhad railroad with a $1.5 billion loan in Tehran.

China’s CITIC Trust also signed an agreement with five Iranian banks in October to extend a credit line worth $10 billion for supporting projects in Iran.

The use of foreign finance to fund infrastructural projects in Iran has been on the rise since the removal of nuclear-related sanctions in January 2016 as part of a nuclear deal Tehran signed with world powers a year earlier.

Earlier this month, Hashemi said South Korea has agreed to finance the construction of three hospitals in Iran.

Iran signed a major credit line deal with South Korea’s Exim bank in August 2017. The deal stipulates the provision of €8 billion in loans to finance projects in Iran.