India repays 66% of oil debt to Iran

India has paid two-third of its debt to Iran for crude oil imports from the Persian Gulf nation, Iranian Central Bank governor Mahmoud Bahmani said on Monday. “The rest of the debt is being received and there is no problem regarding this matter,” Bahmani said, according to state-run Iranian Students News Agency. Indian refiners’ debt to Iran stood at $4.8 billion in early August, National Iranian Oil managing director Ahmad Qalebani said on August 8, adding that the country had at that time received about 1 billion euros ($1.4 billion) from India. The Gulf state is constrained by international sanctions over its nuclear program and Indian refiners have said banks are unwilling to transfer payments for their oil purchases. India has sorted out the financial impasse with Iran, the country’s Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee said in parliament on August 12, without providing details.Iran is the second-largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries after Saudi Arabia. From / Arabian Business News