EghtesadOnline: Bank Maskan, the state-run agent bank of the housing sector, is considering the possibility of increasing the ceiling of home loans while reducing their interest rates to boost the people's purchasing power that has taken a serious hit due to recent hefty price hikes.

EghtesadOnline: The EU has judged that the Irish government granted tech giant Apple undue tax benefits and may have to repay up to 13-billion euros ($14.5 billion) plus interest, Bloomberg News reports.

EghtesadOnline: Forget September, or even December. Bond traders are betting the Federal Reserve won’t be able to pull off another interest-rate increase until September next year.

EghtesadOnline: Foreign debt was $6.3 billion by the end of the last calendar year (March), the Central Bank of Iran said -- almost 27.6% lower on the year before.

EghtesadOnline: Mediation efforts to resolve the dispute between Iran and the United States during the United Nations General Assembly last month did not succeed, because Washington showed no serious interest in clearing the way for an agreement, Iran's top diplomat said.