Economy, Domestic Economy
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More to It Than Meets the Eye

More to It Than Meets the Eye
More to It Than Meets the Eye

Public institutions were meant to enter a “glass room”, a proverbial room where everything was transparent: budget figures, executive salaries and contracts. 
This was a pledge Hassan Rouhani made during his presidential campaigns and he did take a few steps in that direction. 
To start with, Tehran Municipality unveiled a first-of-its-kind website, Shafaf.tehran.ir, on April 10, offering the public a full overview of its major contracts, those worth over 10 billion rials (about $238,095) and the details of the capital city’s fiscal spending outlay. 
Then, the treasury’s public expenditure payments during the month of Farvardin (March 21-April 20) were made open to public view on the website of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance, www.mefa.ir, on April 21. The move, however, triggered both negative and positive reactions. 
“Releasing budgetary figures was an effective step toward promoting transparency but it is definitely not enough,” Vahid Majed, Tehran University’s professor, told the Persian economic weekly, Tejarat-e Farda. 

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