Baku, Azerbaijan, Sep. 18
By Khalid Kazimov – Trend:
The Iranian officials have recently voiced their concerns over the surging amount of goods smuggled into country and its negative impacts on the domestic production.
In his latest remarks, the new Iranian Minister of Industry, Mine, and Trade Mohammad Shariatmadari has expressed his deep concerns over the issue.
He said that about 90 percent of foreign goods offered in the Iranian market have been smuggled into the country, Fars news agency reported.
According to the minister, there are about 250 authorized brands distributing shoes and clothing items but some 23,000 shops offer such products which mostly suffer from poor-quality.
Iran imports worth $12 billion of clothing items per year. The biggest suppliers of the items are China and Turkey.
The minister earlier partially blamed the problem on the fact that while the profitability of the clothing industry in Iran stands somewhere around 10 percent, banking facilities are given with interest rates at around 20 percent.
Much of the problem causing smuggling into Iran, not only of clothing items but other items as well, has to do with the lack of ample distribution of wealth and job opportunities in remote areas and especially around borders.
To reduce the risk of economic, social, and security aftermaths of this shortcoming, the Iranian government has given special permission to the residents of these areas to engage in suitcase trade of goods from over borders.
Back in May, the Iranian central task force to combat the smuggling of commodities and currency has said that about $12 billion worth of goods were smuggled into the country over the last fiscal year (20 March 2016/2017).