BAKU, Azerbaijan, February 27. Iran's Central Bank has reported a 36 percent rise in the debts owed by the public and private sectors by the end of the tenth month of the current Iranian year (January 19, 2025) compared to the same period last year (January 20, 2024).
Data obtained by Trend from the Central Bank of Iran shows that the total debt of both sectors amounted to around 15.2 quadrillion rials (about $26.2 billion). In comparison, this figure stood at 11.2 quadrillion rials (about $19.2 billion) by the end of the previous year’s tenth month.
The statistics further indicate that by the same period, the debt of the public sector, which includes government agencies and companies, reached 6.27 quadrillion rials (about $10.8 billion). This represents an increase of 43.6 percent compared to the previous year.
The debt owed by the private sector to the Central Bank stood at 8.93 quadrillion rials (roughly 15.4 billion USD), which is 31.2 percent higher than the previous year’s debt.
Additionally, by the end of the tenth month, the total assets of Iran’s Central Bank, including both domestic and foreign holdings, amounted to 49.4 quadrillion rials (about $85 billion). This marks a dramatic rise of 146 percent from the previous year, when the assets were valued at 20 quadrillion rials (about $34.5 billion).
To note, in the statistics, the Central Bank of Iran's asset portfolio encompasses international holdings and credit extensions to both the public and private sectors.
Since the US imposed sanctions on Iran’s nuclear program in 2018 and expanded them, Iran was removed from the SWIFT system, significantly impacting its ability to transact with global banks. This exclusion has resulted in many of Iran’s bank branches and assets abroad remaining largely unused.
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