In Iran, banks are considered the main sources of financing. Although the Government has succeeded to reach a growth of 7.4% over the last eight months, but interaction with foreign banks in order to attract foreign investment, Iranian banks must modernize their technologies to meet international standards.
“Currently, 45% of the banking system resources are out of the credit cycle. The accumulation of bank’s non-cash assets and the Government’s debt has created a chain of problems which has limited the banking system’s ability to respond to the financing needs” said Dr. Ali Tayyebnia, Minister of Economy, in the sixth conference on Electronic Banking and Payment Methods on 2 January 2017.
The Minister of Economy believes that although the Government’s debts have increased significantly, they still remain low compared to many countries. In September 2015, a Debt Market was designed and is being carried out to clear some of the Government’s debt.
Another important step for the banking system is the increase of capital for public banks which allows them to grant more loans based on different laws.
Based on statistics released by the Central Bank of Iran and the Ministry of Economy, in the first six months of the current Iranian fiscal year, i.e. March 2016, the country has witnessed 7.4% economic growth. Thanks to the nuclear agreement in January 2016, a large portion of this growth is due to increase in production and exportation of oil. However, other sectors such as industry, agriculture and services have all played important roles.
Based on the report presented by Dr. Tayyebnia, the industrial sector, after a period of recession finally had positive growth during the last eight months. The agriculture sector which even under sanctions had positive growth, has increased its growth.
