Craftsmen of Aradbil Province received low-interest loans totaling 14 billion rials ($430,000) during the final months of the last Iranian year (ended March 20, 2015), Mehr News Agency quoted the deputy for handicrafts of the provincial office of Iran’s Cultural Heritage, Handicrafts, and Tourism Organization, Alireza Dabbagh Abdollahi, as saying. According to the official, who visited a number of workshops in Ardabil, the loans were aimed at creating jobs in the handicraft sector. The Imam Reza (AS) Mehr Fund loaned 6.5 billion rials ($197,000) at 4% interest rate, while the Tose’e Ta’avon Fund gave 3.5 billion rials ($100,000) in loans. “The rest of the loans were handed out by banks at low-interest rates.” The official urged the private sector to invest in the handicraft sector, and said that the government supports investors in whatever way it can.
