Baku, Azerbaijan, May 11
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
The Iranian banking system's bad loans have surpassed 1000 trillion rials (about $39.2 billion), a source told Iran's Fars news agency on the condition of anonymity.
Some 900 persons owe around 100 billion rials (about $4 million) each to the banking system, the source said on May 11.
"Eighteen persons owe around 5 trillion rials (about $195 million) each to the banking system."
"Two hundred eighty three persons owe around 500 billion rials (about $20 million) each to the banking system."
"One hundred forty five persons owe around one trillion rials (about $40 million) each to the banking system."
"And three persons owe around 10 trillion rials (about $400 million) each to the banking system. Two of them are in jail for further investigations."
The Iranian administration has sent the names of 575 main debtors to the national banking system to the Judiciary to be dealt with.
On May 5, Iranian vice president Es'haq Jahangiri said the banking system is in a critical situation, he said, adding that high unemployment and inflation are the main concerns.
On April 20, Jahangiri criticized policies of the former administration in offering loans to small businesses.
The hasty decision of the former administration in paying loans to small businesses has led to 800 trillion rials (about $30 billion) bad loans, Iran's Mehr news agency reported.
The government will move toward downsizing, transferring state shares to the private sector and paving the way for large investments in order to create more jobs, he said.
He also said unemployment rate has reached a critical level in the country. Some 700 million rials should be spent to create a single job, Jahangiri said.
Iran may face 11 million jobless by the calendar year 1400 (March 2024-March 2025) if the same economic patterns of the past decades are followed.
Iranian interior minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli has warned that the number of unemployed people will be multiplied by the Iranian year 1400, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on April 14.
He put the country's unemployment rate at 14 per cent.
The high unemployment rate among Iranian university graduates is a main concern for the Iranian administration.
On April 11, Ali Rabiei, the minister of labor and social affairs said the administration is planning to curb the high jobless rate.
Rabiei added that although each Iranian employed one receives ten million rials (about $390) as monthly salary on the average, but if the inflation rate goes higher, creating more jobs will not be economically justified.