“The bank is providing 370 trillion rials [$8,809 million] in funds required for a total of 143 projects, which can produce over 30,000 direct jobs,” BIM’s CEO Ali Ashraf Afkhami was also quoted as saying by IBENA on Monday. The projects cover, among other sectors, steel production and the national rail network’s development. “BIM will offer loans worth $32 billion to the steel industry over the next two years, helping add 8 million tons to its output capacity,” Afkhami said. “The bank has also contributed $1.8 billion and $1.7 billion respectively to launch two high-speed rail projects linking the capital Tehran to Isfahan and Mashhad respectively,” Financial Tribune quoted him as saying.