TEHRAN – Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has pledged to provide an additional 400 trillion rials ($800 million) in loans to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), Industry, Mining and Trade Minister Seyed Mohammad Atabak said on Saturday.

Speaking at a meeting with entrepreneurs and business representatives in Ardabil Province, Atabak said a support package introduced in December 2025 had initially been designed to assist SMEs. However, assessments showed that a significant portion of the loans had instead gone to large companies.

As a result, the Central Bank of Iran has committed to allocating an additional 400 trillion rials specifically to small and medium-sized businesses, he said.

Atabak also pointed to the country's foreign currency constraints, saying they had affected some trade policies. Encouraging producers to expand exports and introducing appropriate incentives would help generate more foreign currency earnings, while restrictive export regulations could undermine shipments and foreign currency revenues, he added.

The minister stressed the importance of repatriating export earnings, noting that some exporters had failed to return their foreign currency proceeds to the country.

Addressing rising production costs, Atabak said the gap between consumer and producer inflation had widened, with consumer inflation standing at 83 percent and producer inflation at 117 percent, according to figures presented at the meeting.

He warned that continued increases in production costs could erode the competitiveness of domestic manufacturing, leading to lower output and job losses, while further inflationary pressures could eventually be passed on to consumers.

EF/