Key Mega Projects of the Ministry of Economy

Ali Tayebnia, the Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, in a note published by the newspaper Shargh, introduced eight programs of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance for the year 1394 (2015), which he called "key mega projects." According to Ali Tayebnia, the ministry under his management operates in 20 specialized areas including banking, insurance, stock exchange, customs, taxation, foreign investment, and various other economic sectors. The Iranian Minister of Economy believes that problems in any of these areas could lead to a crisis in the country. He sees the way to prevent "the emergence of these problems and to avoid the Ministry of Economy from drowning in short-term and shallow issues" as having a strategic outlook and creating structural-institutional changes, which he states has been the basis of work in the ministry. The "mega projects" of the Ministry of Economy for the year 1394 include the development and facilitation of cross-border trade through the establishment of a single trade window, creating a unified platform for economic information exchange (Bita), managing government assets (monetizing assets), clarifying and smartening government financial operations (electronic treasury), improving the business environment (infrastructure and empowering the people's economy), balancing and updating the country's financing system, facilitating and clarifying the comprehensive tax system, organizing justice shares, and establishing people's asset funds. In part of this note, Ali Tayebnia emphasized that he has obliged the organizations under the Ministry of Economy to publish their "strategic documents" on their websites and make them available to the public. In the same note, he acknowledges that many have warned him against this action, believing that these programs and projects would become a "public demand" and would have "significant consequences" for the Ministry of Economy. Nevertheless, the Minister of Economy of the eleventh government insists that the "benefits" of announcing the strategic programs of the entities under the management of the Ministry of Economy, which include "participation, public oversight, and turning it into a public demand," outweigh the costs. Two major problems of the Iranian economy, Mosi Ghani Nejad and Parviz Aghili, two economists and university professors, in a joint note published in the newspaper Donya-e-Eqtesad, named "high inflation rate and low employment rate" as two major problems of the Iranian economy in recent decades. These two Iranian economists further emphasize that the Iranian economy is "still at the beginning of the path" to ultimately solve the dual problems of inflation and employment, and they write that "deviating from expert approaches can waste the important but fragile achievement of relative inflation control." Parviz Aghili and Mosi Ghani Nejad, referring to quotes from government officials about controlling prices through directives and reducing the interest rate by decree, consider these signals concerning and write: "The government's directive regarding pricing indicates that it seems the inflation rate can be reduced by government price controls." These two experts on Iranian economic issues further emphasize that "insisting on reducing interest rates and banking facilities also fuels the suspicion that the main problem of production is the high rates, which increases investment costs and reduces the motivation for investment in production." They believe that "when the banking system faces a shortage of resources for lending and the queue of loan applicants has become longer," reducing the loan rate leads to "influence in the banking system" and increases "incentives and grounds for corruption." According to Parviz Aghili and Mosi Ghani Nejad, who are considered liberal Iranian economists, "corruption, inefficiency, and waste of resources begin where policymakers go to war with realities. They also emphasize that "in this war, nothing but defeat will befall the policymaker." In another part of their joint note, they stress that "no price can be determined in the market by decree." The effects of economic corruption on people's lives, Hossein Raghfar, an economist and faculty member at Alzahra University, in a note he wrote for the newspaper Etemad, pointed out the effects of economic corruption on people's lives. Mr. Raghfar, referring to the Minister of Interior's report on dirty money and other news published in the field of economic corruption, acknowledged that "the dimensions of corruption are much broader and more shocking than previously thought." According to this economist, "the greatest impact of these corruptions is manifested in people's lives, and society is well aware of the existence of this problem, and its silence does not mean that it is unaware of what is happening." In another part of his note, Hossein Raghfar states that "covering up mistakes undermines public trust, and exposing them increases public trust in society and hope for solving the crisis, which will greatly assist the health of the country's economic and political system."