TEHRAN, Iran, April 1
Trend:
The Governor of Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolnaser Hemmati has announced the bank's support plan of $17.8 billion for businesses that got most affected by the coronavirus spread, Trend reports via IRNA.
"The CBI has made several important decisions for the new Iranian year (started March 20,2020), including mechanism to support the damaged businesses," Hemmati said in his instagram account.
"In terms of credit policies three measures would be implemented. First is that agent banks were chosen to fix the economic damages of coronavirus and to implement mechanism to support the $17.8 billion credit plan for businesses," he added.
"The second is the establishment of a unit in the Central Bank of Iran to observe the production chain, provide financing to commodity production and services in support of the production leap," he said.
"The third is the increase of agent banks' commitment as executors of the mentioned measures," he said.
Hemmati said that another important decision was over the monetary policies and development of open market operations.
"In this regard, the process of Repo and Reverse Repo purchase agreement were passed for the first time in Iran," he said.
"In foreign currency policy, the necessary planning was made to provide foreign currency on time for purchase of basic goods via channels and methods that are accessible to the Central Bank of Iran and private sector without stirring the market," he added.
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a pandemic on March 11. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.
Iran is one of the countries heavily affected by the rapidly-spreading coronavirus. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 44,600 people have been infected, 2,898 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 14,600 have reportedly recovered from the disease.
The country continues to apply strict measures to contain the further spread. Reportedly, the disease was brought to Iran by a businessman from Iran's Qom city, who went on a business trip to China, despite official warnings. The man died later from the disease.
The Islamic Republic only announced its first infections and deaths from the coronavirus on Feb. 19.