BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 20
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
Iranian banks have issued loans worth 44 trillion rials (about $1.04 billion) in connection with the coronavirus over the past 1.5 months, Director General of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolnasser Hemmati said at a meeting with the director of Iranian banks, Trend reports citing CBI.
According to the director general, the issuance of loans by Iranian banks continues.
"In addition, the issuance of loans on housing should be accelerated," he added.
Hemmati emphasized that Iranian banks have issued loans worth 85 trillion rials (about $2.02 billion) on purchasing of wheat since the beginning of current wheat harvesting season in Iran (April 4).
A number of agricultural goods in Iran are purchased from farmers under a guarantee by the Government Trading Corporation of Iran and the money fromthem are paid in installments. In this regard, the loans are taken from Iranian banks to pay the money to farmers as soon as possible.
Iran continues to monitor the coronavirus situation in the country. According to recent reports from the Iranian officials, over 422,100 people have been infected, and 24,301 people have already died. Meanwhile, over 359,500 have reportedly recovered from the disease.
The country continues to apply strict measures to contain 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.
The outbreak in the Chinese city of Wuhan - which is an international transport hub - began at a fish market in late December 2019.
The World Health Organization (WHO) on March 11 declared COVID-19 a pandemic. Some sources claim the coronavirus outbreak started as early as November 2019.