Iran Press/ Iran news: In an exclusive interview with Iran Press on Tuesday, Mohammad Mehdi Mofateh said a very common form of financing projects, in this and many other countries, is 'foreign or external financing of projects' whereby another country undertakes to finance a project in Iran.
"When the project is completed, becomes fully operational and generates revenues, the foreign loan is paid back in agreed instalments," Spokesperson for the Majlis Planning and Budget Commission added.
Mofateh added: "The parliament has approved a renewable fund of $30 billion annually for the government to undertake special projects. And for the past year or two, we have allowed the government to obtain a $ 5 billion loan from the Russian government to complete special welfare and infrastructure projects. As you are no doubt aware, any foreign loan for the government must be approved by the parliament (Majlis) according to Iran's constitution.
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"In the budget bill, this $ 5 Billion loan from Russia, part of the $ 30 Billion fund, had been approved by the parliament in previous years, some preliminary work had been done, but the loan was not finalised. Thus it was necessary for the parliament to give renewed permission to the government to obtain this loan from Russia, and various civil infrastructure projects could then be funded from this loan (Russian money)," The spokesperson for the Majlis Planning and Budget Commission noted.
Senior MP Mofateh emphasised that the constitution requires any (foreign) external borrowing for various projects to be ratified by the parliament.
Mofateh added: "It was necessary that we renew this permission in 2019 (1398 on the Iranian calendar) to let projects that are financed by this $5 Billion, to be implemented."
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