TEHRAN Minister of Mines and Industries Es'haq Jahanqiri said on Saturday that the private sector involved in carrying out industrial projects will be granted a maximum of $25 million in loans upon offering economic justification.

The government has decided to provide the private sector with $3 billion in loans, which is equivalent to half of the extra oil income, IRNA reported.

Jahanqiri said that the hard currency trustee board has required those receiving the loans to repay them in hard currency.

He recommended the private sector to give preference to the projects whose products are in demand on international markets.

Jahanqiri said that producing the spare parts for the motorcars is an example of the industry with export potentials.

He said that industry constitutes 18 percent to the gross domestic products (GDP) adding that the figure will reach 23.6 percent by the end of the Third Development Plan (by the year 2004).

Jahanqiri said that Iran has no other alternative but to go ahead with its drive to attain industrial development, something which has the potential to create 800,000 jobs annually if the current taxation system undergoes major change.

He said that the $3 billion in loans has been earmarked to the private sector so that fund will not be available to state companies.

Jahanqiri said that the government believes that the private sector possesses high-level administrative expertise compared with the stagnant administration of state-owned companies.