BAKU, Azerbaijan, January 18. If the current economic situation in Iran continues, factories and industrial enterprises will have to lay off their workers, Secretary of the Razavi Khorasan Province Branch of Industrial Managers Association of Iran Amir Mehdi Moradi told ISNA, Trend reports.
According to Moradi, most of the buyers of industrial products in the country are citizens with stable salaries. Due to the increase in the price of food products several times, citizens are already postponing the purchase of secondary equipment such as refrigerators, carpets, etc. This shows that their purchasing power has decreased.
“The decrease in the purchasing power of citizens also affects the factories, and the factories cannot sell their products. Due to the factories cannot sell products, they cannot earn income and buy raw materials again. On the other hand, the price of raw materials has also increased sharply. Even some factories cannot buy raw materials again, despite their sell products. In this case, factories try to receive loans from banks but in the current situation, the country's banks are not interested in providing loans to factories,” he added.
The secretary also said that as the end of the current Iranian year (March 20, 2023) approaches, the cost of each citizen increases. In such a case, the situation of workers becomes more miserable. Some factories are trying to pay workers' wages by selling off their property. But this process can be effective for a while. If there are no positive steps, eventually factories will lay off workers.
"The activity of manufacturing enterprises and factories for the next Iranian year (March 21, 2023, through March 19, 2024), depends on many issues, including Iran's nuclear program, FATF, and so on. At present, a number of countries and international organizations have focused their attention on issues such as human rights. All this makes the situation in the country's industrial sector even more difficult. However, if steps are taken in the direction of understanding with the world, the pressure will gradually decrease, as well as, factories and manufacturing enterprises will able to improve their situation by using the opportunities created," Moradi noted.
On May 8, 2018, the US announced its withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) between Iran and the 5+1 group (Russia, China, the UK, France, the US, and Germany) and imposed new sanctions against Iran. Over the past period, the sanctions affected Iranian oil exports, more than 700 banks, companies, and individuals. The sanctions have resulted in the freezing of Iranian assets abroad.
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