Govt. to announce $1b support package for non-oil exports

The acting minister of industry, mining, and trade has referred the package to the First Vice President Es’haq Jahangiri to be announced and implemented as of tomorrow which is the beginning of the Iranian calendar month of Khordad, Head of Commercial Services Department at TPO Ehsan Ghamari said.

“One billion euros has also been included in the package for providing buyer and seller’ credit,” Ghamari mentioned.

Exporters of carpets, technical and engineering services, as well as knowledge-based products, are among the priorities for receiving facilities from the mentioned budget sources, he stressed.

"Bank facilities, budget resources, and other support packages are considered to come to the aid of exporters in the current Iranian calendar year, Ghamari said.

“Meanwhile, the National Development Fund (NDF) has also set aside one billion euros in the form of buyer and seller credit.”

According to the official, the payment of NDF support resources for the previous calendar year 1398 (ended on March 19) will begin next week.

Parsian Bank, Iran Venezuela Bi-National Bank, Tose'e Ta'avon Bank, Export Development Bank, and Bank Saderat are going to participate in the allocation of the said resources, he said.

Earlier in January, TPO had announced that Iran’s Resistance Economy Headquarters approved a “Non-Oil Export Support Package” prepared by TPO.

According to Hamid Zadboum, the mentioned package was developed by the Iranian Trade Promotion Organization, in collaboration with the Ministry of Finance and Economic Affairs, the National Planning and Budgeting Organization (PBO), and the National Development Fund (NDF).

He noted that in this package, various incentives have been considered for exporters, which will be provided for them based on the priorities determined in the package.

“The export incentives covered in the non-petroleum export support package include National Development Fund resources in addition to the budget allocated by the Trade Promotion Organization for promoting exports,” Zadboum explained.

Increasing non-oil export to the neighboring countries is one of the major plans that the Iranian government is pursuing in the current Iranian calendar year (began on March 21, 2019).

Acting Minister of Industry, Mining, and Trade Hossein Modares Khiabani, who was previously the deputy industry minister, has said that his ministry was planning to increase the value of Iran’s non-oil exports to its 15 neighbors up to $50 billion.

“Our goal is to be able to meet five percent of our neighboring countries' needs, which would amount to more than $50 billion a year considering the total import of all the 15 countries which is at least $1 trillion annually,” he said in last August.

The official expressed hope that the mentioned goal would be realized before the Iranian calendar year of 1400 (which starts in March 2021), saying that the Institute for Trade Studies and Research and also Trade Promotion Organization are currently developing detailed plans to achieve this goal.