President Ahmadinejad Asks CBI to Facilitate Loans to Public

TEHRAN (FNA)- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called on Central Bank Governor Tahmasb Mazaheri to take quick measures to solve the recent problems preventing state-owned banks from granting loans to the public.

“As you know it has been some time that, despite the support of the Central Bank, state-owned banks are having problems in granting facilities to various walks of life, and various economic sectors are facing heavy and on certain occasions irreparable damages,” Ahmadinejad wrote in a letter to Mazaheri.

The president cautioned that any further continuation of the present situation – brought about under the pretext of returning resources and controlling withdrawals from the Central Bank as well as limiting the publication and inordinate distribution of guaranteed bank cheques – would lead to certain negative economic consequences and the weakening of state-owned banks.

He also stressed the necessity for the immediate design and pursuit of effective approaches to improve the present situation, saying, “I expect the Central Bank to take action without wasting any time and to announce the result within one month.”

Copies of the letter have also been sent to First Vice-President Parviz Davoudi, Caretaker of the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs Hossein Samsami, Minister of Commerce Masoud Mir-Kazemi, Minister of Agricultural Jihad Mohammad Reza Eskandari, Minister of Industry and Mines Ali Akbar Mehrabian and Minister of Housing and Urban Development Mohammad Saeedi-Kia.