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Iranian Vice-President and Head of the Management and Planning Organization (MPO) Mohammad Baqer Nobakht said on Tuesday that over $1.25 billion credit had been taken from the NDF after Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei approved that the finances could be used for helping job creation programs across the country.
He said a total of 109.000 plans had already been approved by the MPO and other government departments. adding at least 237.000 new jobs had been created across Iran through the funds drawn from the NDF.
It had been agreed that $1.5 billion be taken from the NDF of which $1.255 billion has already been withdrawn. Nobakht said.
Nobakht said around half of that figure had been earmarked to projects and plans for spurring employment. adding that the government had its own plans for job creation that were funded by the annual budget approved by the parliament.
The NDF came under American sanctions in September when Washington accused Iran of a role in attack on oil installations in Saudi Arabia.
Iran has dismissed the allegations while insisting that the NDF. which attracts a huge portion of the income derived from Iran’s oil and gas exports. would remain unaffected by the US sanctions.
Withdrawal of funds from the NDF. which are reserved for major infrastructure and social projects deemed as vital for economic development. should be approved by the Leader as the fund is seen as a source of wealth that should be protected for the future Iranian generations.
The government said over the summer that it had secured one such approval for drawing funds needed for completion of a key railway project southeast of Iran.
Washington’s unilateral sanctions against Tehran began in November 2018. five months after US President Donald Trump withdrew from an international deal on Iran’s nuclear program.
Claiming that the bans were working properly. Trump tightened them in May. only to see that Iran was finding new solutions to recoup the losses.
Iranian officials started planning for policies to counter the US possible sanctions a year before Donald Trump entered into office in early 2017. The policies are now proving effective as economic indexes are indicating inefficacy of the US pressures.
Earlier in July. Iran’s Minister of Industry Reza Rahmani said that despite US efforts to cripple Tehran’s economy. year-on-year comparison shows that the country’s domestic production has increased in the first quarter of the local calendar year (March 21-June 21).
