Financial Tribune- Financial newspaper

New Restrictions on Loans to Bank-Affiliated Companies The Central Bank of Iran has announced new measures to prevent banks from giving loans to related persons, head of the CBI department for banking health assessment said. "Rules include caps on bank lending to related persons. The value of every loan paid to subsidiaries or related persons must not exceed 3% of the bank’s base capital. Moreover, the collective amounts lent to related persons must not exceed 40% of the bank capital," Ali Akbar Miremadi was quoted as saying by IBENA. Subsidiaries and affiliated companies are considered as a bank’s related entities. However, "henceforth shareholders of the bank, affiliated companies or any person that can impact the board's decision will be seen as related entities to whom bank lending is restricted." financialtribune.com/node/115238 @fintribune

MRC Delves Into Impervious Problem of Unpaid Forex Loans The Majlis Research Center (MRC), the parliament’s think tank, says the National Development Fund of Iran must resist calls for partial payment by all those who have taken out forex loans. In a report posted on its website, the MRC said collecting forex debt has long been a big challenge for the sovereign wealth fund. The bad situation has become worse due to the sanctions-plagued economy and huge fluctuations in currency rates in the past decades. Over the past few months forex rates have jumped to historic levels. NDFI is independent of the government and was set up in 2011 to curb dependency on oil and save a percentage of the earnings from oil and gas exports for future generations. financialtribune.com/node/115239 @fintribune

Iran Gov’t Guaranteed Wheat Purchases Exceed 7m Tons Worth $2.6 Billion The Iranian government has purchased 7.15 million tons of wheat worth 827.86 trillion rials ($2.6 billion) domestically from the beginning of the harvest season on March 24 till Sept. 14, registering a 58% rise in tonnage compared with the similar period of last year, according to CEO of the Government Trading Corporation. “The value of this year’s purchases exceeds that of the years 2017-21, which stood at an aggregate of 812.03 trillion rials $2.55 billion,” Saeed Rad was also quoted as saying by ILNA. This year, guaranteed purchases started from the provinces of Sistan-Baluchestan, Kerman and Khuzestan — all in southern Iran. financialtribune.com/node/115236 @fintribune

Iran's Trade With SCO Rises 31% YOY to Top $17b During 5 Months: IRICA Iran and member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization traded 21.41 million tons of goods (excluding crude oil from Iran) worth $17.05 billion during the first five months of the current Iranian year (March 21-Aug. 22) to register a 31% increase compared with the similar period of last year, according to the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration. Iran’s exports (excluding crude oil) stood at 17.38 million tons worth $9.08 billion, which indicate a 10% rise in value compared with the similar period of last year, IRICA Spokesman Rouhollah Latifi was quoted as saying by IRNA. “China was our biggest export destination among SCO member countries during the period, as the country imported $6.72 billion worth of Iranian products to register a 14% year-on-year rise.” financialtribune.com/node/115203 @fintribune

Online Gold Trade to Be Legalized: Gov’t The Ministry of Industry, Mine and Trade in collaboration with the relevant unions will soon start issuing license for gold trade on the internet. According to Alireza Shahmirzaei, a deputy minister, the aim is to replace unauthorized trade, as is taking place in social media platforms, with authorized websites that will be licensed soon, Tasnim news agency quoted Shahmirzaei as saying. On concerns over legalizing online trading of the yellow metal, the official said, “The concerns must be studied in detail. Yes, they opponents do say that they are worried about people’s money, but their real intention could be something else.” financialtribune.com/node/115206 @fintribune

Q1 GDP Growth at 3.8%: SCI Iran’s GDP grows by 3.8% in the first quarter of the current fiscal year (started March 21) compared with the corresponding period of last year, the Statistical Center of Iran said in its latest report. Without taking crude oil production into account, economic growth stood at 4.3%, the report added. According to SCI, the agriculture sector contracted by 0.8% in Q1 as the “industries and mines” and “services” grew by 4.2% and 3.9% respectively. The center earlier put fiscal 2021-22 growth at 4.3%, saying GDP saw a 3.5% rise without taking crude oil production into account and that the sectors of agriculture, industries and services experienced a -3.7%, 6% and 4.5% growth respectively. financialtribune.com/node/115198 @fintribune

Regulator Restricts Big Share Dividends The Securities and Exchange Organization (SEO) has imposed new restrictions to discourage giant listed companies from offering large-scale share offers. SEO has approved a decision based on which big holding companies cannot pay dividends over and above 20%of their income from share sales, the Securities and Exchange News Agency reported. it said the big companies must transfer the rest of the income to their “reserve accounts” for future needs, namely for raising capital. financialtribune.com/node/115205 @fintribune

Iran's Trade With Africa Crosses $520 Million in 4 Months Trade between Iran and African countries stood at 890,287 tons worth $526.35 million during the first four months of the current fiscal year (March 21-July 22). South Africa with 255,471 tons worth $152.94 million, Nigeria with 129,437 tons worth $80.63 million and Mozambique with 82,462 tons worth $57.195 million were Iran’s main trade partners during the period. Data released by the Islamic Republic of Iran Customs Administration show Iran exported 864,027 tons of goods worth $495.51 million to the African continent during the period. Iran’s main export destinations in Africa were South Africa with 255,101 tons worth $149.57 million, Nigeria with 129,437 tons worth $80.63 million and Mozambique with 82,462 tons worth $57.2 million. financialtribune.com/node/115183 @fintribune

Tehran Hosts First Digital Mining Conference, Expo financialtribune.com/node/115180 @fintribune