Baku, Azerbaijan, March 17
By Khalid Kazimov - Trend:
Deputy Director of Administration Development and Human Resources of the Presidential Office of Iran Mahmoud Askari Azad has said that government employees have diminished in number by three percent.
The percentage represents 68,201 people who were left out of the government through retirement and privatization in the first 18 months of the incumbent administration, the Public Relations Office of the Management and Planning Organization reported March 17.
Iran is making the government smaller in line with guidelines by the Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei as well as the 5th Development Plan(2010-2015).
In the meantime, the current administration has issued employment certificates for 2,716 people. Certificates for over 13 thousand employed during the former administration were also finalized, according to Askari Azad.
Thus, 84,000 people left the government posts, while 15,799 came on board, he said.
The move is unprecedented in the history of Iran's government and if the trend is continues, in 3 years the number of employees will reach the level desired by the government, the official said.
The Iranian government has envisioned a large privatization program in the Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (2010-2015), aiming to privatize about 20 percent of state-owned firms each year.
In line with the Article 44 of the Iranian Constitution, hundreds of state-owned companies have been privatized with some of the shares being earmarked for distribution among 'deprived' classes, such as farmers and workers.
More than 1,320 trillion rials (about $38 billion) of state shares have been divested in Iran since Iranian year 1384 (began in March 2005).