The newly-revived Management and Planning Organization plans to help provide low-cost loans (4-percent) to the cooperative sector. Accordingly, a plan is in place to provide 930 billion rials in loans ($32.9 million at official exchange rate) to the cooperative sector.
The Supreme Council of Cooperative’s Development is set to hold meetings in different provinces to address the matter, said an official with the ministry of cooperatives, labor, and social welfare on Monday.
The loans will be provided through three major sources including domestic resources, the National Development Fund of Iran, and managed funds.
There are currently 102,000 cooperatives actively operating across the country, half of which are focused on production and manufacturing, news website Banker, quoted Alborz Mohammadi, director general of manufacturing cooperatives, as saying.
Of all the manufacturing cooperatives, 24,300 are involved in the agriculture sector, 17,500 in industries, 1,700 in the rug industry, 1,200 in the mining sector, 1,700 in construction projects, and 1,700 in businesses to provide raw material for the manufacturing sector, he noted.
During the past two years none of the cooperatives have been shut down, rather “3,000 have been added,” the official announced.
“Increasing the number of units, however, is not enough,” Mohammadi said, clarifying that measures have also been taken to “fully reserve and exploit the potentials that have been created.”
Further he noted that with optimum planning, and providing low-cost loans the ministry of cooperatives, labor and social welfare has focused on fortifying the cooperatives and solving their cash flow problems.
According to the official, compared to other sectors, providing job opportunities within the cooperative sector is extremely cost effective. With the low-cost loans provided, nearly 4,200 job opportunities will be created within this sector, he added.
