TEHRAN, Iran, Nov.8
Trend:
Iran's auto industry is facing a debt payment problem and lack of financial transparency, economist and a university professor Vahid Shari Shagaghi told Trend.
"Iran's auto industry is practically managed by the government, while the industry is considered a semi-public private organization," he said.
"There are problems and lack of transparency in balance sheets of Iran's auto companies. Reviewing these documents would show that most of them are fake," he said.
"Bank advances that are provided to various organizations have a specific interest rate and fines but the government does not accept this mechanism," he said.
"The worst is that the automakers are being managed by those who seek to showcase that the auto industry is in great financial situation," he said.
"The fact is that a bank provides loans to the auto industry, and when it is time to collect the debt, the automakers cannot pay off, and try to change figures in their reports," Shagaghi said.
He added that lack of transparency, forged documentation and turning the auto industry into a semi-public private field create certain problems for Iranian automakers.
He said that in the past six months of the current Iranian year(started March 21,2019), the losses of Iran's major automaker - Iran Khodro, amounted to $1.2 billion, which is increase in losses, compared to the same period last year.