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the value of the Iranian rial (IRR) and consequent increases in raw materials prices, a situation sparked by the reimposition of heavy sanctions against Tehran by the US last year. Several thousand companies have either cut their workforce or shut down completely due to supply chain failures and clients that proved unable to pay invoices.
According to Minister of Industry, Mining and Commerce Reza Rahmani some “10 trillion tomans [IRR100 trillion] have been allocated from the resources of the banks and 10 trillion tomans from the resources of the National Development Fund [NDF]”.
The funds will be offered in the form of five-year loans with interest rates below the rate of inflation. Two applicable rates will be 14% for enterprises in large cities and 12% for industries seen as facing particular hardship.
Twelve repayments on the loans will be expected annually, with a six-month grace period allowed at the beginning of the loan period
The programme will be operated with the website www.behinyab.ir.
The government has been forced to dip into the NDF in recent months because income from its usual sources, including oil export sales, has diminished in the face of what President Hassan Rouhani has referred to as Washington’s “economic war”.
Iran’s industrial production index fell 0.5% in the third quarter of 2018, down from 6.5% y/y in the previous quarter and 5.7% y/y in the first quarter, CEIC data showed. Major industrial production includes oil, petrochemical products and automobiles
4.2 Inflation 4.2.1 CPI dynamics
Iran’s CPI inflation edges down to 42%
Iran’s official consumer price index (CPI) annual inflation stood at 42% in the 2019/2020 Persian calendar year’s seventh month (ended October 21), after dropping 0.7% m/m, according to Statistical Centre of Iran (SCI) data.
In the food and beverages category, the CPI increased by 60.8% y/y but m/m prices decreased 1.1%. Tobacco and subsidiary products such as cigarettes registered a 80% y/y increase, but a m/m decrease of 0.7%.
17 IRAN Country Report December 2019 www.intellinews.com
