Every day Iran witnesses a new face in its economic crises which are reflected in most state media outlets.
While the government’s main effort is to hide the reality from the face of the people, the situation is worse than that, and the government’s wrong economic policies and its profligacy in other countries have a clear effect on the people’s lives and the economy inside the country.
Below are some of these facts reflected in state media.
About the rising exchange rates and currency crisis the state-run ISNA news agency while quoting Dr. Javad Barati, faculty member and director of the Tourism Economics Research Group of Khorasan Razavi Jihad University, wrote:
“Among the damage caused by the currency crises of the 2000s in the Iranian economy (a crisis that occurred in the country’s economy in the early and late years of this decade), which is, in fact, one of the most important economic and social damage, the increase in income inequality. According to statistics published by the Statistics Center of Iran, although the Gini coefficient has had a decreasing trend over the past decades, since 2012 this trend has been reversed and increased.
“So that in 2018 it has reached a value equivalent to 2010. Increasing income inequality means making the poor poorer and the rich richer (albeit relatively). The catastrophe that leads to the disappearance of the middle class and the widening of the income gap between the upper and lower deciles, one of its most important factors of the increase in this inequality is the currency crisis.
“Sometimes studies of the effects of the currency crisis are so focused on job losses, declining purchasing power, and the negative effects of inflation and the trade balance, that important implication, such as the rising of income inequality, which will also lead to widespread social harm, are ignored.
“Rising exchange rates have been one of the main causes of inflation in recent years, and this increase in the exchange rate at a glance means that capital owners (and especially profiteers whose capital is in dollars or physical assets), to some extent, maintain the value of their capital is saved, while those who do not have capital are getting poorer and poorer. Because rising inflation has only reduced their purchasing power without being able to increase their income.
“Rising exchange rates since 2018, which is still ongoing, are exacerbating the crisis of income inequality, and the Gini coefficient is expected to rise sharply in the last two years. Rising exchange rates and the currency crisis today will have a social catastrophe in the coming years that economic analysts pay less attention to. Trends that are very important in relocating a family, the percentage of marriages and divorces, the number of new births, and many other harms that result from such inequality.” (ISNA, 24 August)
The state-run news agency Tasnim with the title, “1.5 trillion tomans of people’s money was pulverized with the fall of the stock market index”, wrote:
“Seyed Nasser Mousavi Largani, member of the Presidium and member of the Economic Commission of the parliament, wrote on his personal page on Instagram: ‘The stock market also experienced a relatively significant decline today. All the promises and actions of the government to return the market on the normal rail have not borne fruit, about 1.5 trillion Tomans (25% of the total value of the stock exchange) has been pulverized and lost. Does the government really feel responsible for the smelting of the people’s capital?” (Tasnim, 23 August)
Fararu daily with the title, “600 thousand tomans jumped out of the pocket of every worker”, wrote: “The head of the wage committee of the Supreme Council of Councils (Faramarz Tofighi) said about the announcement of the housing right from June: with the implementation of the housing right decree from June, the workers’ housing right was reduced by a total of 25%.
“He added: ‘About 600 thousand tomans was deducted from the total income of workers, which is a total of about 25 percent. If 200 thousand tomans per month were added to workers’ salaries in the form of housing rights, it would be about 2.400 million Tomans in a year. With the announcement of the housing right decree from the beginning of June and with a deduction of 600 thousand tomans for March, April, and May, about 25% of the total income received by workers was reduced’.” (Fararu, 24 August)
The state-run daily Aftab Yazd while mocking the officials’ negligence in the increase of the prices wrote:
“The answer to some questions can be assessed as ignoring public judgment and distance from people. Sometimes some answers are not a sign of political sincerity and honesty, but also a sign of unfortunate distance. On the day that Mr. President noticed the increase in gasoline prices on the same day (of the increase), people were asking each other: Is such a thing possible? This time, the esteemed head of the Program and Budget Organization, the main and most important institution in the field of prices and economic changes, shows himself unaware of prices.
“While senior executives do not have the opportunity to shop and consider solving the country’s problems more important than the price of lentils and tomatoes, the provision of their home needs is the responsibility of their esteemed family or special individuals and no one expects managers to be busy every morning in greengrocers or shopping malls, to buy and supply their necessities.
“But shouldn’t the price list, especially the essential items, be prepared and supplied to the effective officials? And sometimes they even go to the sales centers of the necessary items even as a hobby and witness the hourly growth of prices? Indeed, if the country’s top managers sometimes evaluate the prices of essential items, then they will notice the crushing pressures on the low-income groups, retirees, and the unemployed.” (Aftab Yazd, 24 August)
Source » iranfocus