Tehran, Iran, April 29
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
Iran's Money and Credit Council, affiliated to the Central Bank of Iran, has lowered deposit and facilities interest rates.
The council agreed to reduce the one-year deposit interest rate by two percent, settling it at 20 percent, and the exchange contract interest rate by one percent, settling it at 21 percent.
The council also set the expected interest rate for partnership contracts at 24 percent, Fars news agency reported April 28.
At the end of the session which took four and half hours, the council also decided that partnership contract interests should be reviewed every 3 months.
The reduction of penalty rates for overdraft facilities duties was another amendment passed by the council. Also, legal deposits interest rate was lowered by 0.5 percent to reach 13 percent.
Furthermore, the Central Bank of Iran was given permission to issue 100-trillion rials (about $3.5 billion) bonds.
The Central Bank of Iran was also obliged to rate banks and credit institutes based on their risk factor.
A December report by the Central Bank of Iran said that bank deposits in Iran hit 7,810 trillion rials (approximately $270 billion).
The total domestic and foreign-currency deposits added up to 7,809.82 trillion rials for that time. As legal deposits were deducted and the deposits were laid by the Central Bank, about 6.94 trillion rials stayed with the banks.
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Mehdi Sepahvand is Trend Agency's journalist in Iran, follow him on Twitter: @mehdisepahvand