<p dir="LTR"><span>Financial Tribune- A fter a joint meeting held by the members of Majlis Economic Commission, CEOs of state-owned banks and officials of Economy Ministry to discuss different aspects of interest rate cuts, the head of the commission announced the establishment of a committee to further pursue the matter.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>"A comprehensive report on the banking system was presented in the meeting and we decided to form a committee comprising representatives of the Central Bank of Iran, Majlis Economic Commission, Ministry of Economy, Associations of Private and State-Owned Banks, and Management and Planning Organization to find solutions to cut interest rates on banks and credit institutions' deposits and present it in the next meeting," Mohammad Reza Pour-Ebrahimi was also quoted as saying by ICANA.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>After a long debate, the negotiations did not yield any results and hence the proposal to form the committee.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>The report also mentioned that members of the aforementioned committee will include CBI officials, Mohammad Reza Hossein-Zadeh, Bank Melli's CEO who is also the head of state-run banks' association, the head of Private Banks' Association, Kourosh Parvizian, and Mohammad Hossein Hossein-Zadeh, the head of the commission's Monetary and Banking Committee.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>The late Monday meeting was chaired by Pour-Ebrahimi, according to whom top issues of the banking system, especially cutting bank deposit rates, were discussed.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>"High bank interest rates have created a number of problems for banks' operations," Pour-Ebrahimi added.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>The head of the commission noted that reducing bank interest rates in line with the inflation rate could have positive results for the country's economy.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>"Reasons behind the jump in bank interest rates were assessed during the meeting and banks presented their reports regarding the issue," he said.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>Representatives of CBI, Economy Ministry and associations of private and state-owned banks also reported on their efforts in determining interest rates.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>"We are trying to devise a schedule to bring down the interest rate on deposits since it has also affected loan rates, which have harmful effects on the economy and even challenge banks themselves," he said.</span></p> <p dir="LTR"><span>Pour-Ebrahimi emphasized that if the illegal money market is pushed aside, it would be impossible for interest rates to go up unchecked.</span></p>