Iran’s Bank of Industry and Mine provided €994 million in letters of credit over the three-month period ending June 21 to fund three industrial projects. Of this amount, €482 million were allocated for the construction of a power plant in the southwestern Fars Province, €382 million to a paper manufacturing project in the neighboring province of Khuzestan and €80 million to a steel production project in Sistan-Baluchestan Province. The bank has supplied over half of the total funding required for the implementation of national projects to build power plants, IBENA reported on Wednesday. BIM’s CEO Ali Ashraf Afkhami said on Monday the lender is financing a total of 143 projects, which could give a major boost to the government’s efforts to tackle the scourge of unemployment by generating more than 30,000 direct jobs.