A former governor of the Central Bank of Iran has criticized the composition of the Money and Credit Council, saying the area of expertise of its members is irrelevant to the council’s tasks.
“The MCC is a technical council but composed of members with irrelevant specialties,” Tahmasb Mazaheri said, according to Financial Tribune’s sister newspaper Donya-e-Eghtesad.
“Similar bodies in developed nations are basically non-governmental and composed of monetary experts. That’s why they’ve been more successful in the banking industry than we have,” he said.
MCC’s members mainly come from the government and its affiliated companies, which widely use banking resources for development projects. The government itself needs the council to help address its budget deficit, the former official noted.
The MCC is composed of 11 members with voting rights and two observers from the economic and budget committees in the parliament.
Presently, the council’s members are Ali Tayyebnia, minister of economy, Valiollah Seif, governor of the central bank, Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, head of the Management and Planning Organization, Mahmoud Hojjati, minister of agriculture, Ali Rabiei, minister of cooperatives, Mohammad Reza Nematzadeh, minister of industries, Safdar Hosseini and Mohammad Nahavandian, monetary and banking specialists, Ebrahim Raeisi, general prosecutor, Gholamreza Shafei, chairman of Iran’s Chamber of Commerce, and Bahman Abdollahi, chairman of the Chamber of Cooperatives.
With the exception of the two chambers’ chairmen, the rest come from state-run bodies. Even the two monetary and banking specialists are among government faces. Nahavandian is the president’s chief of staff and Hosseini chairs the National Development Fund of Iran. The only figures holding PhD in economics are Seif, Nahavandian and Tayyebnia. The rest have no relevant academic background.
Mazaheri also called for a reform in the Monetary and Banking Act, which dates back to the pre-revolution era. He believes the law needs to be updated since banks have gained a more important role in the economy nowadays.
