Financial Tribune - Bank lending increased 3.3% in volume during the four months to July 22, the latest figures showed.

IRIB News reported that Iranian banks and credit institutions granted 1.1 quadrillion rials ($8.2 billion) in loans to customers, compared with 1.08 trillion rials ($7.9 billion) four months earlier.

Loans offered under the partnership contracts constituted the bulk of this figure, 34.9%, while 5.7% went to Qarzol-Hassaneh (interest-free) loans and 27.2% to installment sale loans.

Installment sales drove the lion�s share of loans given out by commercial banks. The figure stood at 619.5 trillion rials ($5.57 billion), accounting for 34.5% of total credits, compared with 551 trillion rials ($4.06 billion) at the start of the period.

Commercial banks doled out 137.4 trillion rials ($1.014 billion), or 7.7%, in interest-free loans.