Iran president’s jobless figures are misleading, Shargh reports

Bloomberg: Unemployment statistics presented by Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are deceitful, according to Ahmad Tavakoli, an economist and head of the parliament’s research center, Shargh reported.

Bloomberg

By Ladane Nasseri

Unemployment statistics presented by Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are deceitful, according to Ahmad Tavakoli, an economist and head of the parliament’s research center, Shargh reported.

Ahmadinejad said in an interview with state television two days ago that his government had created 1.7 million jobs in the last Iranian calendar year ended March 20, that conflicts with reality, Tavakoli told the Tehran-based newspaper.

Iran’s central bank failed to report figures for the country’s gross domestic product in the past three years, which appears to have been declining, the newspaper cited Tavakoli as saying. Iran has been in a recession over this period, Shargh reported him as saying.

The failure to disclose information allows some officials to present false statistics and project a successful image, Tavakoli told the newspaper.