National Economy and Middlemen’s Safe Haven

Iran’s special economic conditions and its government’s misguided policies in recent years have given rise to deal-making and all-round middlemanship. 
The economy has now transformed into a safe haven for middlemen, says Nasser Zakeri, an economic analyst, in an article for the Persian daily Shargh. A translation of the text follows: 
A parliamentarian representing Lahijan [in Gilan province] recently said traders are selling rice at twice the purchase price paid to farmers. A deputy attorney general has also said that the gap between cost price and retail price is too large; the middlemen inflate prices to line their pockets...