As IRNA reported, the bank has it on the agenda to continue the program for financing SMEs in the current Iranian calendar year as well.

This program aims to pave the way for developing domestic production in order to fulfill the slogan of the year which is “production: support and elimination of obstacles” considering the country’s special economic conditions and the U.S. sanctions.

Back in April, the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade had announced that 167 trillion rials (nearly $3.97 billion) was paid to SMEs and semi-finished industrial projects with an over 60 percent physical progress during the previous Iranian calendar year.

The mentioned payments were made in the form of bank loans paid to 5,044 projects and production units, according to the ministry data.

CBI has defined supporting production as one of its major plans over the past few years.

CBI Former Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati has repeatedly stressed that supporting production units to flourish production is the priority of the country’s banking system.

In early May 2019, Hemmati had outlined CBI plans for neutralizing or relieving the impact of U.S. sanctions on the country’s economy and mentioned providing liquidity and working capital to maintain and boost domestic production as one of those plans.

CBI’s plans take two major approaches, one of which is to secure finance for production activities and also to provide the working capital needed for such activities.

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Making the remarks on the sidelines of a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Abdolnaser Hemmati, CBI governor, said China and Russia have informed that Iran’s will to not joining FATF would create problems in the way of banking transactions between Iran and these countries.

Asked about the possibility of U.S. pressures tightening after Iran joins the task force, Hemmati said, “There are some standards in international banking transactions which are set by the FATF, and joining the FATF not only does not create any barriers for Iran but makes its transactions more transparent and smooth.”

“We have nothing to worry about. We are following anti-money laundering rules and regulations very seriously,” the governor added.

Earlier on Monday, Government spokesman Ali Rabiei said the government will support any decision the Expediency Council and the Guardian Council make on the fate of the FATF-related bills, but argued that Iran’s interests will be secured by not exiting the FATF.

The Iranian parliament ratified the FATF in October 2018. However, the oversight Guardian Council rejected the bill.

The Paris-based Financial Action Task Force said on October 18 that it has given Iran a final deadline of February 2020 to tighten its laws against money laundering in compliance with the global watchdog’s financial standards.

“If before February 2020, Iran does not enact the Palermo and Terrorist Financing Conventions in line with the FATF Standards, then the FATF will fully lift the suspension of counter-measures and call on its members and urge all jurisdictions to apply effective counter-measures, in line with recommendation 19,” the FATF said in a statement, Reuters reported.

One of the actions Iran is required to take to appease the FATF is to ratify the CFT, the convention combatting the financing of terrorism.
The government is pushing for the approval of the FATF.

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He said that removal of four zeros from national currency will for sure facilitate daily transactions but to get implemented the government’s ratified plan needs Parliament’s approval, as well.

On July 31, the government approved a plan to take four zeros off the national currency in a bid to curb the tide of liquidity and impede rial depreciation.

The plan to remove four zeros from the rial has been on the government agenda since it was proposed about seven month ago by Central Bank of Iran as part of a broader plan to revisit the monetary system.

According to the government website dolat.ir, the measure calls for fundamental change to the national currency, including changing the name of the monetary unit from the official rial to the popularly used ‘toman’. It stipulates change in the nominal value and the face of bank notes and coins.

Despite the fact that rial is the official currency, people use toman in informal transactions (1 toman = 10 rials).

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