President Remains Committed to Full Privatization

President Hassan Rouhani has renewed a pledge to follow through his reform plans to revamp the poorly privatized economy.

“Since taking office [in 2013], the government has been committed to hand over the economy to the private sector,” Rouhani was quoted as saying by his official website.  Speaking during a fast-breaking Iftar dinner with economic stakeholders on Thursday, the newly reelected president blamed the problems of the private sector on his predecessor’s inefficiency and poor management in enforcing Article 44 of the Constitution.

“The Leader of Islamic Revolution [Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei] has stressed that the economy be effectively handed over to the public,” he noted.

“If the policies of Article 44 had been properly implemented, the economy would have been revolutionized.”  Article 44, which calls for the privatization of major state-owned companies, came into the limelight in 2008, when a new wave of criticism emerged over the disproportionate state ownership after the Leader issued the general policies on privatization. Rouhani was also apparently referring to the unregistered firms and financial institutions that have stakes in the private sector due to their close links to vested interests.

  Momentous Decisions

He underlined the need and necessity to promote business security in the domestic market as a key contributing factor to national security.

“Our security is not threatened only by Daesh. Decisions by the government, Majlis and judiciary can either help or harm the tranquility and security in the market.”

Daesh is an Arabic acronym for the self-styled Islamic State, a militant group that swept and declared a caliphate across swathes of Iraqi and Syrian territories in 2014. The governments of the two Arab countries have been relying on Iran’s advisory military support in their fight to dislodge the terrorist group. IS suicide bombers and gunmen carried out two deadly terrorist attacks in Tehran early this month, prompting the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps to target the group’s positions in Syria with six ballistic missiles last week.