By Jubin Katiraie
Iran decided to list oil in its energy exchange to collect cash from the people.
On 6 August, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said, that on 10 August a plan in the meeting of the head of the three branches will be concluded, that if Iran’s supreme leader Ali Khamenei agreed, it will be a promotion for the country’s economy.
This plan was so disastrous and senseless that right after its announcement it was mocked by Iran’s people and of course by the officials from both factions. And some in the government called it, “the Friday morning decisions”, of Rouhani. State media outlets say that this plan is worthless and is not expertly reviewed.
The president may have thought that just with a hocus pocus all the country’s economic problems can be solved, which is the result of the 41-year reign of this regime.
In a coordinated choir, all the officials try to show a better situation. Like synchronized announced of Rouhani and the head of the central bank, that the price of the foreign exchange is decreasing, or the speeches of the head of Rouhani’s office who have claimed that the sanctions will be removed very soon, but the reality is showing something else, the shrinking of the people’s table day after day.
A holed pocket
This expression is one of the comments by the state media, that compares the government’s economy to a “pocket with a hole and which is loose”, which never becomes full and never satisfies:
“People call something an economic development, which does not mean compensating the government budget deficit by the leaders or stealing from the people’s property. Development means that the people can take a ‘breath’, not that the government by its try to fill its holed pockets, by trying to get the money in the hands of the people.” (Aftab Yazd, 10 August)
This action has no other purpose, to maintain the rule of the regime by relying on the pockets of the people. In other words, the government not only has no plan to save the lower deciles of the society and the majority below the poverty line but also intends to take the last little was is left for the people from their greatly reduced tables.
Elias Naderan, a member of the parliament, called the decision a disaster: “The government has promised economic opening next week, and experience shows that these promises will not affect the lives of the lower deciles and low-income groups. Apparently, this news refers to the sale of oil futures (oil bonds). From what I have heard, this news is more like a catastrophe than an economic promise.” (Resalat, 10 August)
The issue is just as ugly. Khamenei and Rouhani, in order to maintain their dominance, sell the oil, this precious reserve of the present and future generations of Iran to the Iranian people, the money of which was supposed to reach the people’s tables.
Aftab Yazd further wrote: “We have been living in it for forty years. Unusually, many of the decisions of this government are not expertise, and for not having this expertise, we have paid heavy costs, such as in November 2019. The government’s gasoline decision, which was also approved by the Supreme Economic Coordination Council.”
Read More:
Iran Government’s Economic Misery Through the Lens of State Media
