Minister of Economy: State-Owned Companies 'Available for Transfer' Will Be Transferred Within a Year

Ali Tayebnia, Iran's Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, announced that all state-owned companies that are 'available for transfer' will be transferred to the private sector within the next year. According to the state news agency IRNA, Tayebnia stated on Sunday, March 19, that these companies will be transferred after resolving some issues, such as 'low profitability.' He did not name the companies available for transfer but added that they have significant assets despite some problems. As announced by the Minister of Economic Affairs and Finance, all state-owned companies available for transfer were supposed to be transferred by the end of the Iranian year 1393 (March 2015) according to law and planned schedules. He cited the opposition of some managers and officials as one of the reasons for the delay in these transfers and mentioned 'market demand for purchasing these enterprises' as an 'external factor' contributing to the delay. According to Article 44 of the Constitution, companies in the first group of transfers were to be transferred by the end of the Iranian year 1389 (March 2011), and companies in the second group by the end of the Iranian year 1393. Following the implementation of privatization policies in Iran, which began in 1989 and gained significant momentum in recent years, many state-owned companies have been transferred to the private sector. The implementation of this policy has faced criticism from experts and some officials, as well as protests from many workers who have been laid off or have not received their wages and benefits for months following these transfers. In Iran, numerous reports are regularly published about gatherings of workers from state-owned companies transferred to the private sector in various cities, protesting job losses or the uncertainty of their employment status. Reports indicate that some factories transferred to the private sector have become unprofitable and incurred losses after a period. Officials have repeatedly expressed doubts about the proper process of these transfers over the years, stating that only a small percentage of these transfers have been genuine. Abbas Akhoundi, Iran's Minister of Roads and Urban Development, is among the officials who stated in October 2015 that 95% of state-owned companies transferred to the private sector have 'returned' to the government or been transferred to 'non-governmental public institutions.' Abdullah Pouri Hosseini, head of Iran's Privatization Organization, also reported in 2013 that 87% of transfers to the private sector were 'unrealistic.' In this context, Hassan Hosseini Shahroudi, a member of the Economic Commission of the Parliament, also stated on Sunday that the transfer of state-owned companies has not been carried out 'correctly' so far. He told the House of the Nation news agency, affiliated with the Parliament, that 'many of the transferred companies based on Article 44 have gone bankrupt or become semi-active.' According to him, 'the private sector that has entered this work has not been able to create a boom in these companies.' Despite all these criticisms, government officials, including the head of the Privatization Organization, have emphasized the continuation of privatization policies.