Governor of the Central Bank of Iran: The amount of bank debts has reached 105 trillion tomans

The Governor of the Central Bank of Iran announced that the amount of bank debts has reached 105 trillion tomans, which is an increase of 15 trillion tomans or 17 percent compared to the end of last year. Valiollah Seif stated in an interview with Fars News Agency on Tuesday, February 1, that despite the increase in the volume of bank debts during Hassan Rouhani's administration, the ratio of these debts to the total loans disbursed has decreased. According to Mr. Seif, in 2013, the amount of overdue bank claims compared to the total facilities disbursed was 15 percent, or about 90 trillion tomans. He announced that the latest amount of bank debts is 105 trillion tomans, which is 11 percent of the total facilities disbursed. Mr. Seif had previously announced the volume of bank debts at the end of 2015 to be about 90 trillion tomans, indicating that this amount has increased by about 17 percent in 10 months. However, according to a report by the Arman newspaper on July 2 of this year, experts estimate the volume of bank debts to be as high as 125 trillion tomans. According to media reports and statements from some officials, 80 percent of bank debts belong to 500 debtors. Meanwhile, the Central Bank Governor stated that ordinary bank debt cases are pursued by the banks themselves, and a 'cross-agency task force' has been formed at the Central Bank for '40 to 50 major cases'. Mr. Seif announced that these cases will be referred to the judiciary after a 'complete analysis of the situation'. Previously, the names of some major bank debtors had been published in the media, and some of them have been arrested. Meanwhile, Ali Taebnia, the Minister of Economy, stated on January 24 that Amir Mansour Arya (rank one or two), who was executed, is at the top of the list of 500 bank debtors. According to Mr. Taebnia, Babak Zanjani does not rank among the top bank debtors but is among the largest debtors to the government. The Research Center of the Parliament described the state of Iran's banking system as 'critical' in a report on June 8 of this year and warned about the 'risk of bankruptcy' of the country's banks. According to the amendment to the budget law of 2016, late payment penalties for bank debtors whose debts are less than 100 million tomans will be waived 'if the principal debt is paid'. In this regard, Mohammad Mehdi Mofatteh, spokesman for the 2017 budget consolidation commission, announced on Tuesday that if debtors with debts under 100 million tomans pay the principal loan, the government will pay the loan interest and the late payment penalty will also be waived. The Central Bank has also made it 'harder' for bank debtors to leave the country in a new directive issued in February, and contrary to previous directives, bank debtors cannot leave the country for treatment, business matters, or pilgrimage.