Tehran, Iran, Oct. 4
By Mehdi Sepahvand – Trend:
The Iranian government is granting special loans to developmental projects in rural areas, according to Seyyed Abolfazl Razavi, vice president for rural development and deprived areas.
There are three types of loans that are being given under this consideration, Razavi told reporters on October 4.
"The first type of loans is given to cooperatives or joint stock companies with 25 to 200 households. The interest rate is zero percent for villages in border areas. We have already had three examples of this in Sistan and Baluchestan and two in South Khorasan provinces," the vice president said.
"In other areas, the interest rate is 3 percent, with one to two years breathing space for starting to pay back the loans. The payment period would last three to four years. For 25 households 7.5 billion rials (about $221,000 for each USD at 33,950 rials) would be given; also for 50 households 10 billion rials, for 100 households 20 billion rials, for 150 households 30 billion rials, and for 200 and more households the government will bring four times what the shareholders bring. Nevertheless, for 200 and more households from border areas the government would bring nine times of what the shareholders bring."
He added that a second series of loans is one that is paid to projects that create stable jobs in various fields, from industries to mining, agriculture and tourism.
"Here 16 trillion rials of loan was allocated to be given by Bank Sina. [Of the 18 percent common banking interest] 5 percent is given by Alavi Foundation, 5 percent by the government, and the rest by the management of the projects. So far about 5 trillion worth of contracts have been approved under this consideration, while 1 trillion rials of loans have been granted."
According to Razavi, a third series of loans is expected to be given in the coming months.
"About a year ago we delivered a bill for granting $1.5 billion worth of loans to the Parliament. The bill has been passed into law and we have written the related set of regulations for carrying it out. This would give loans with 6 percent interest rate. For entrepreneurs with high academic degrees and others that would plan to create science-based businesses the interest rate would be 4 percent."