Iran to pay $815m to support carmakers

TEHRAN,Aug.10(MNA) - The Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade will pay 10 trillion rials (some $815 million) to Iran’s two major carmakers to help them resolve their financial problems. The ISNA News agency quoted Industry, Mine and Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari as saying that the two carmakers (Iran Khodro and Saipa) are struggling to pay their debts to domestic part makers. Iran’s car output in the first four months of the this year, which began on March 20, fell by 37.4 percent compared to the same period last year. Iran plans to manufacture at least three million cars by 2025 and export some one million, the Fars News Agency quoted Ghazanfari as saying on June 16. “Some 1.6 million cars were manufactured last year and 55,000 cars were exported,” Ghazanfari said.