Iran’s supreme leader on Monday approved withdrawal of EUR 1 billion from the country’s sovereign wealth fund to support a healthcare system overstretched by a major coronavirus outbreak.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave the government permission to use the National Development Fund, which collects some of the country’s foreign revenue for emergency needs, for procuring hospital equipment, financing the cost of health care and treatment and paying unemployment benefits.
The permission came 10 days after President Hassan Rouhani requested the withdrawal.
The National Development Fund, founded in 2011, derives revenue mainly from oil income.
Iran is the epicenter of the virus in the Middle East, with almost 60,500 cases and 3,739 deaths so far. With its economy severely weakened by U.S. sanctions, it has already sought a $5 billion loan from the International Monetary Fund, its first request for assistance from the lender since the 1960s.
Iran has also urged Washington to suspend its sanctions while the virus is sweeping the country, a call the U.S. has rebuffed.