Russia Says Ready to Grant Iran Loan
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – A Russian deputy finance minister announced Wednesday that Moscow is set to provide Iran with a key state export loan amounting to $5 billion in 2016.
"The degree of readiness (to grant a loan to Iran) is very high, with one of three issues we haven’t finally accorded yet being the legal implementation of the agreement, which is a separate matter," Sergey Storchak said as cited by the Tass news agency.
Preliminary agreements on granting Iran the $5-billion loan were signed during Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Tehran at the end of November 2015.
Officials in Moscow had earlier said that the loan will be used for infrastructure projects, mostly likely electrical power generation and the development of railways.
The measure is expected to boost trade between the two countries. The target is $10 billion, from the current $1.6 billion.
