Banks and credit institutions allocated a total of 1.67 quadrillion rials (€17.92 billion) to various sectors of the economy during the first four months of the current fiscal year that ended on July 22, the Central Bank of Iran’s data show.
According to the latest report published on the regulator’s official website on Monday, the figure was higher by 138.2 trillion rials (€1.48 billion) or 9% when compared to the corresponding period of the previous year. The figure was handed out in the form of about 2.47 million loans.
As always, the services sector was at the top of the list of loan receivers with about 1.41 million loans worth a total of about 691.61 trillion rials (€7.42 billion). It was followed by the industry and mine sector that received about 468.36 trillion rials (€5.02 billion) in the form of 75,454 loans.
The trade sector of Iran’s economy enjoyed 315,048 loans worth about 250.53 trillion rials (€2.69 billion) during the period. The banking system then prioritized the housing and construction sector with 340,823 loans, amounting to about 150.37 trillion rials (€1.61 billion) and the agriculture sector with 321,847 loans worth about 109.13 trillion rials (€1.17 billion).
A total of 799 loans worth about 1.30 trillion rials (€13.95 million) were listed as miscellaneous facilities in the CBI report.
Once more, loans allocated with the purpose of providing the required working capital of various sectors accounted for the lion’s share of total loans at 61.3% or about 1.02 quadrillion rials (€10.95 billion). That figure was 28.9 trillion rials (€310.21 million) or 2.9% higher than the total number of working capital loans handed out in the corresponding period of last year.
Loans doled out for establishing a business had the highest share at 8.1% or 135 trillion rials (€1.45 billion) of total loans. All other purposes of loan allocation had a share of below 10% and miscellaneous loans in this categorization had a 10.6% share equal to 176.36 trillion rials (€1.9 billion).
The industry and mine sector grabbed 394.82 trillion rials (€4.23 billion) or 38.5% of total loans in the form of working capital facilities. It constituted 84.3% of all loans handed out to the industry and mine sector, which the central bank said indicates the prioritization of resource allocation to this sector by the banks and credit institutions during the current year.
In terms of the average amount of loans, the industry and mine sector again topped other sectors and had the highest per-loan average of 6.2 billion rials (€66,550). The services sector had the lowest per-loan average of 500 million rials (€5,367).
