Tehran, Iran, October 13
By Mehdi Sepahvand -- Trend:
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said that the Islamic Republic's main objective by the nuclear talks has been to improve the country's domestic economic growth.
Rouhani made the remarks in a televised address on October 13 evening, Trend correspondent reported from Tehran.
Commenting on his government's programs for the post-sanctions era, he said the plan is that foreign funding has first to enter the country.
After the sanctions are lifted, the atmosphere will be one of competition, he stated.
Iran and six world powers made a conclusion of their talks over Iran's nuclear program on July 14, which is expected to limit Iran's nuclear activities in return for the removal of sanctions.
After the nuclear deal was struck, foreign companies have been storming Iran, so much so that each day about 10 to 20 of them have visited Iran, he noted.
He said that his economic team has created a special plan for a period of time he called the time of passage.
Next week 75 trillion rials (each 30,000 rials making 1 USD) will be deposited with the Treasury which will be used in the two-three coming weeks to propel production and economic growth, he stated.
Rouhani said that the future of the Tehran Stock Exchange is estimated to be very bright, underlining that Iran's economy will be in much better shape the next Iranian-calendar year (to start March 21).
After the Iranian parliament passed a bill on the implementation of the nuclear deal earlier the day, the Tehran Stock Exchange saw considerable improvement in all sectors.
The president said that last year his administration made an economic move to show to pro-sanctions countries that the sanctions had failed, preparing grounds for the country's nuclear talks to end in the removal of the sanctions.
He said monetary discipline and control over the monetary base growth yielded by the government helped a lot to improve the Iranian economy since he came to power.
He regretted that this year Iran's oil revenue is expected to hit the lowest in 10 years, noting that while Iran's oil revenue was $119 billion in 2011, it is expected to reach only $25 billion for the current Iranian year.
He also implicitly blamed the policies of the former Iranian administration for helping sanctions come effective, saying that using the high oil income for importing goods led Western powers to use banking sanctions as a tool to pressurize Iran into yielding to their demands.
He noted that banking sanctions were unprecedented when they were first imposed on Iran.
He further said that his administration improved the country's economic growth from -1.9 percent in the Iranian year corresponding to 2013-14 to 3 percent last Iranian year. Rouhani also pointed out that inflation in the meantime was reduced from over 40 percent to below 15.
The president also pointed out that next week the 90-day time period for Iran and the members of the group 5+1 (the US, UK, France, Russia, China, and Germany) which made the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action will be over and the sides should start implementing the deal.
He pointing out that in the course of a couple of months the sanctions are expected to be removed, opening the way for his administration to kick off its intended economic programs.