Bank Loans Up 16%

Financial Tribune - Iranian banks doled out loans worth 569.7 trillion rials ($15.1 billion) to economic sectors during the first two months of the new Iranian year (ended May 21), registering a growth of 16% compared with the same period of the previous year.

According to the latest data made available by the Central Bank of Iran, the services sector took home the lion's share of the banking system's credits. The capital received by service-sector companies exceeded 230 trillion rials ($6.1 billion), accounting for 40.4% of all the loan books of banks and credit institutions.

The next major recipients of credits were industries and mining, as well as business sector. The former with 187.5 trillion rials ($5 billion) and the latter with 64.6 trillion rials ($1.7 billion) accounted for 32% and 11.35% of the total loans, respectively.

According to the CBI report, the better portion of the banking system's business lending during the two-month period–at 67.8%–has gone to meet the working capital demands of enterprises.

CBI data also show that industries and mines were propped up by banks, allotting 88% of the credits to satisfy their working capital needs. With the sector being a major guzzler of credits, their working capital loans stood at 164.7 trillion rials ($4.4 billion).