Tehran, Iran, Dec. 1
By Milad Fashtami - Trend:
Iranian government has so far failed to snap the country's economy out of recession.
Head of Iran World Trade Center Mohammad Reza Sabzalipour told Trend New Agency on December 1 that high inflation, high unemployment rate, and low purchasing power are the signs that prove Iran is still in recession.
Iranian economy has contracted by 8.7 percent during the last two fiscal years, but Iranian government said earlier that the economy growth stood at 4.6 percent in spring.
Iran's fiscal year starts on March 21.
Sabzalipour says that Iranian president Hassan Rouhani constantly talks about containing inflation, but facts on the ground show that the country is still struggling with high inflation.
The inflation rate when Rouhani replaced ex-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in mid-2013 was about 37 percent, however the latest report of Iran's Central Bank says that the inflation rate declined to about 18.2 percent last month.
"There is no doubt that the inflation's pace has been reduced, but we should admit that Iranians are still having a hard time since the country is in recession," Sabzalipour explained.
"Some of the producers are short-weighting just to avoid increasing prices. They sell less than they are expected to just because by selling the correct amount they need to increase prices. So sometimes the inflation is there, but we just can't see it," Sabzalipour noted.
"Unfortunately the government's current policies are leading the country even further into recession," he said.
"There are lots of bankrupted industrial units. The government needs to support them to create job opportunities."
The Head of Iran World Trade Center went on to note that the government can encourage people to invest their savings in the stock exchange market or industrial units, instead of forex and gold market by creating positive atmosphere.
He believes that the government needs to keep the current exchange rate of US dollar at the next year's budget plan in order to avoid a price hike in the free market.
"Iran's automobile, construction materials, food stuff, machine-made carpet, and textile industries have a good potential," he said, adding "if the government supports these industries, lots of job opportunities will be created. This will help the country boost its on-oil exports, as well".