Rules Easing Bank Debtors’ Travel Welcome

EghtesadOnline: A member of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture has welcomed the rules easing travel for bank debtors, noting that executive bodies should understand the fact that the economy experienced a challenging period that damaged small business owners.

News ID: ۷۷۳۶۲۹

01 February 2017

“Problems facing manufacturers were beyond their power so they were not able to fulfill part of their commitments,” Mohammad Reza Mortazavi was also quoted as saying by Banker.ir.

He believes that there is no manufacturer who would abscond for a figure like 2 billion rials ($50,000) and these kinds of regulations only lead to “distraction and chaos in the market”.

“In my opinion, the new minimum debt ceiling could be even raised higher,” he added.

The Central Bank of Iran issued a new directive on Monday, increasing the minimum amount of debt required for banks to call for a foreign travel ban on individuals and legal entities, Financial Tribune reported.

According to the new directive, natural persons with debts exceeding 3 billion rials ($78,000) and legal entities who have racked up debts higher than 5 billion rials ($130,000) and also do not possess a valid guarantee, namely immovable property like real-estate or movable property like bank deposits or other acceptable collaterals, could be placed on the no-fly list if demanded by the banks’ CEOs.

The former version of this directive approved on September 24, 2013, considered all individuals and legal entities, whose debts exceed 2 billion rials ($50,000), eligible for a no-fly listing.

The new directive also makes a distinction between natural persons and legal entities in setting the debt limits.

Experts believe this increase reflects the fact that 2 billion rials ($50,000) is no longer a considerable amount of money and the average debt of bank debtors has increased dramatically since 2013.