Tehran Times � Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation has generated over 1.5m job opportunities for those financially struggling since the past 7 years, Hojatollah Abdolmaleki, the Foundation�s deputy director has announced.

Job generation for the underprivileged is among the most important and tough responsibilities of the Foundation, he stated, YJC reported on Monday.

Since Iranian calendar year of 1390 (March 2011� March 2012) to 1396 (March 2017- March 2018), the Foundation has earmarked 100 trillion rials (nearly $2.4 billion) to open up over 1.4 million job opportunities in order to facilitate income generation for the deprived, he explained.

He went on to add that last year (March 2018-March 2019), a total of 148,000 jobs were created by the Foundation�s budget of 23 trillion rials (around $547 million).

Last year, some 495,000 families have become financially independent and no longer under the Foundation coverage, he highlighted.

This year, we intend to support 5,000 business plans, he said, stating that there are over 200,000 knowledge-based business plans are awaiting support and fund.