To Cure Economy by Production Leap
This year, the condition in the country and Anti-Coronavirus Headquarters’ demand for voluntary quarantine in the country made the Supreme Leader cancel his annual New Year travel to Mashhad and visit of Eighth Imam Reza (A)’s shrine, and instead in a televised meeting and addressing the nation, he chose a name for this year and elaborated it.
IRAN NEWS POLITICAL DESK
In the meeting which was broadcast live on IRIB for the great Iranian nation, the Supreme Leader began his speech with expressing condolences and felicitations to the families of martyrs of the past Iranian calendar year (1398) like martyrs of Holy Shrine and Borders Defenders, above of all, martyr Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, Martyr Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis and their comrades as well as martyrs of Kerman incident, plane crash and martyrs on the path of health, and called 1398 (last year) a tumultuous year for the Iranian nation.
He said,“ 1398 began with flood and ended with Coronavirus outbreak and through the year, various incidents and events like earthquakes and sanctions happened but the peak of them was the U.S. terrorist crime of assassinating famous commander of Iran and Islam Martyr Soleimani.” He also stated, “Last year, was a tough year and people’s woes and hardships were not too low but beside those woes and hardships, there were also a number of unprecedented honors and achievements where Iranian nation shone brightly in all of them in its true sense of word.” He continued to hail significant sacrifices of people in the Coronavirus issue and called it another example to Iranian nation’s shining in the last Iranian calendar year, adding that, “These acts of sacrifice were made by medical groups, physicians, nurses, assistants, managers and the staff working in hospitals. Alongside these people, there were volunteers from among the people, students, the clergy, Basijis and various individuals who helped the medical staff and who nursed patients. All these phenomena are a source of dignity and reputation.”
Addressing the nation, the Supreme Leader then defined the meaning and ideals behind the slogan for the new year 1399, saying, “As for the slogan of the year, the year 1398 was the year of boosting production and I will tell the Iranian nation that this slogan was welcomed in practice. In the beginning, experts welcomed it, saying that production was the main criterion, but it received a warm reception in practice as well. According to reliable reports that I have received, the production of the country moved forward. Some of the factories that had stopped working and that had closed down returned to work and in the case of those which worked below their capacity, they increased their capacity. Knowledge-based companies entered the arena and various organizations made good endeavors as a result of which, production was boosted.” The Leader added, “In the year 1398, production was roused and it moved forward, but its effects in the lives of the people were not yet tangible. We should make production reach a point where it can influence the people’s lives. Of course, the economic issues of the country are many. There are issues such as reforming the banking system, the customs regulations, the taxing system and improving the business environment and other such issues, but the role of production is a unique and peerless one. With boom in production and taking advantage of 80-million-people market inside and link with foreign markets, economic problems in the country would definitely end and Iran will benefit from the sanctions.”
To sum up his remarks, he said, “Last year’s slogan was “Boosting Production”. This year, I want to say that we need a further leap in production – as the slogan of the year. This year is the year of “Leap in Production.” This is the slogan of the year. Officials should act in a way that production will witness a surge, God willing, and that there will be a tangible change in the lives of the people.”
The leader’s emphasis on surge in production indicates that leader’s reliable experts have blamed unwise policies of governments for the growth in the volume of liquidity in the country and it seems it is a rational solution for the problems.
All ninth, tenth, eleventh and twelfth governments have destroyed national economic bases and devaluation of national currencies without ill-intention, of course it is doubtful. The imprudence today with over 2,000 billion tomans liquidity has befallen all walks of the life. Widening of social gap and the rise in Gini coefficient as well as inefficiency in the structure of production are results of this imprudence. The government’s obligation for providing minimum supportive package for weak layer of the society is because of this.
This woe has been created by the alignment of the 4-percent community in the country, as Qalibaf had claimed in his election campaign, with the governments. Without any doubt, lockdown and quarantine in the country because of the outbreak of Coronavirus, will cripple major layers of the people because the government has to provide more people with its supportive credit package to fight unemployment rate and it will undoubtedly lead to a surge in liquidity and a rise in the monetary bases in the post-Coronavirus era. But emphasis on a national unity on surge in production in the current year can swallow some part of this liquidity in order to prevent the spread of poverty among some major parts of the nation and saving them from more misery. In fact, remedy for curing the current national economy is nothing but massive production with mechanism of surge in production.
By: Hamid Reza Naghashian
