Tehran, Iran, March 19
By Mehdi Sepahvand - Trend:
The interbank interest rate in the Islamic Republic of Iran has been set at 17 percent, according to the managing director of Iran's Central Bank Valiollah Seif.
Seif said the rate was 29 percent in the beginning of the current Iranian year (March 21, 2015) and has dropped by 12 percent since then, Fars news agency reported March 19.
He explained the drop by the fact the the Central Bank itself entered the interbank market.
At a meeting on Feb. 15, Iranian bankers decided to cut the annual interest rate by two percent, dropping from 20 to 18 percent, while the daily interest rate will fall below 10 percent.
"We are trying to use non-directive methods and we are are sure that in the coming year that will come true, and interest rates reach the acceptable level which is somewhere around the inflation rate," Seif added.
Inflation was over 40 percent in 2013 when Hassan Rouhani took the presidency in Iran. Currently, the inflation in the country stands at around 13 percent.
A recent IMF report estimates that Iran's real GDP growth is projected to accelerate to 4-5.5 percent in 2016/2017 and to average 4 percent throughout the medium term.
The report forecasted that the country's inflation will fall to 11.8 percent in 2016 and 10.5 percent in 2017.
Iran plans to register an economic growth of 8 percent according to a five year plan that will begin in March 2017.