Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 11 / Trend F.Milad/
Four Iranian state-run power generation companies and three construction companies, sold 17 up to 100 percent of their shares on the stock exchange on Wednesday, the IRNA news agency reported.
Iran has privatized up to 500 companies during the last six years, Iran's minister of economic affairs and finance Shamseddin Hosseini said in August 2011.
He announced that the government has gained around $77 billion income by ceding shares of the companies to the private sector during the mentioned period.
In 2007, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei instructed the government officials to speed up the implementation of the policy outlined in the amendment of Article 44, and move towards economic privatization.
Massive privatization of state-owned enterprises over the past several years, which had hitherto justified the state sponsorship of major economic activities, was the hallmark of economic reforms in Iran. It was enabled after the reinterpretation of the relevant provisions of Iran's constitution and following authorization by the highest political decision-making bodies in Iran.
According to the Iran Privatization Organization, over the past five years about 589 state-owned companies with the shares worth $83 billion have been privatized, according to Middle East Online.