Baku, Azerbaijan, Mar. 27
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
The government of Iran should either not allocate foreign currency for the import of luxury goods or prevent imports thereof, Iranian economist Bahman Ghadami Damabi told ISNA, Trend reports.
Ghadami Damabi believes that, at a time of an economic war, and with nearly 10 million people living below the poverty line, the mass imports of luxury and non-essential products, such as expensive cars, have no economic basis whatsoever and are meaningless.
"The expectations of the citizens and the psychological condition are the main reasons why the Iranian economy is unstable," he said.
According to the Iranian economist, the government should manage these expectations in a certain way and respond to them accordingly. Thus, economic expenses, including inflation and the increase of queues for any types of products should be prevented.
Ghadami Damabi added that, as a next step, the government should set reasonable prices in the currency market. The government has taken appropriate steps in this direction, which should be continued during the current year (started March 21, 2019).
The Iranian expert, who sees the supervision of exporters as another way of solving the current economic situation, said that the government could return foreign currency to economic turnover by watching over the exporters. Thus, the Central Bank will not be faced with a currency deficit.
"The government must benefit from the opportunities of free trade to get out of the current economic situation. When free trade grows, the quality of the products increases and their prices go down," he said.
Ghadami Damabi added that the government must either stop or minimize the incentives allocated to a number of enterprises for helping free trade.