Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8
By Khalid Kazimov – Trend:
Two Iranian ministers have announced the government's intention to turn the country’s Housing Bank into a development bank.
Speaking at an annual ordinary general assembly of Bank Maskan (Housing Bank), Iran’s Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Masoud Karbasian said that the government attaches importance to the plan on turning Housing Bank into a development bank, Iran's state-run IRINN TV reported.
He added that the officials in the government, Central Bank as well as Money and Credit Council will make efforts to realize the plan.
In the meantime, Iranian Minister of Roads and Urban Development, Abbas Akhoundi, said that the plan was on the government agenda since President Hassan Rouhani took office in August 2013 but the efforts in this regard have yielded no results so far.
Akhoundi urged the finance minister to seriously follow up on the issue of turning Housing Bank into a development bank.
As part of its roadmap until the end of the second term of President Hassan Rouhani in the fiscal 2021-22, Bank Maskan, the agent bank of the housing sector, aims to become a regional development force, Financial Tribune said in a late November report.
As envisioned in the roadmap document, Bank Maskan is supposed to lead the way in terms of offering financial services to housing and urban development measures as one of the main features of healthy and sustainable financing of the housing sector and transform into one of the most efficient development-specialized banks in West Asia, the bank said in an announcement.