Saipa, Iran's second largest automaker, has announced this Ramadan it will not offer its employees Iftar—the meal directly after sundown during the month of fasting. The company's new CEO, Mehdi Jamali, made the announcement as part of the large automaker’s cost-cutting measures in the current Iranian year (started March 21). Saipa, has made huge expenditure cuts in the past 12 months by reducing its overall expenditures on R&D, as well as staff costs, with a new drive of slashing waste in the company's annual budget. This latest announcement regarding the evening meal shows the company is in dire straits, as the evening meal would add up to less than 1 million rials per person ($30 at market exchange rate). The group's decision follows the recent announcement of the country's parliament that they too would not serve the evening fast-breaking meal to reduce overall expenditure.
