The Management and Planning Organization (MPO) will be revived in the coming days, a senior advisor to the president told IRNA on Sunday.
The Management and Planning Organization, formerly known as the Plan and Budget Organization, was dissolved in 2007 following a direct order from the former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. The body was in charge of evaluating the country’s resources and preparing medium and long-term development plans as well as the annual budget. At present, the vice president' office for strategic planning and supervision plays the MPO’s role.
"The managerial capacity of the government has been severely hit in recent years as many highly capable experts previously working for the MPO were fired by the previous government," Masoud Nili said, adding that it is difficult to find qualified workforce to replace the experts that used to work for the organization.
Based on the decision in early December by the Supreme Administrative Council, the planning and strategic supervision office and the management and human resources development office will be merged in the form of the MPO.
>>>Oil Plunge "Opportunity"
Nili said the current plunge in global oil prices can be considered as a positive trend if the government seizes the opportunity to diversify its sources of revenue.
"The non-inflationary bill to exit recession was, in the first place, prepared by the government in an effort to reduce the country's reliance on oil revenues," Masoud Nili told Radio Eghtesad on Saturday. He added that taxes and non-oil exports should be regarded as the most immediate sources to replace oil for Iran's economy.
The government's priorities are to get the economy out of recession, curb inflation and boost economic growth, Nili said, adding that the goals are within reach should the country's resources be utilized in an efficient manner.
He described stagflation as the most "challenging issue facing Iran's economy today", warning that recession must be tackled in such a way that it does add to inflation.
Iran has experienced high inflation in recent years, owing both to the former government’s economic mismanagement and the impact of western sanctions, which intensified in 2010 in relation to the dispute over Tehran’s nuclear energy program.
The administration in the past year managed to sharply reduce the inflation rate, which had increased to as much as 40 percent shortly before Ahmadinejad handed power to Rouhani in the summer of 2013.
With the changes made by the Rouhani administration in the past year to the foreign and economic policies, the national economy experienced a growth rate of 4.6 percent in spring after 8 consecutive quarters of negative growth.
Economists, however, believe the descending order of the inflation rate could come to a halt later this year, ending March 20, 2015, or at least be slowed, mainly due to the continuation of sanctions and the sharp drop in oil price. But they believe the economy will grow in the coming year.
