TEHRAN (Iran News) – A member of Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mine and Agriculture says what the government says on reducing the inflation and forex rate depends completely on the amount of oil sales and reiterated that limiting the trade to only some certain countries is not good policy.
Speaking to ILNA, Ferial Mostofi said that in the past years all governments have talked about controlling the inflation but the reality of the market shows that all of them have been unable in curbing the inflation.
She termed inflation as the biggest threat to the national economy, adding that in recent years lack of proper management in economy and the international sanctions have led to the growth in liquidity and this growth has caused rise in inflation while in all developmental plans the governments had decided to unify the fore rate but all their words have left as just slogans.
She noted that the main task of the Central Bank in economies of the countries is to control the inflation, adding that in Iran the Central Bank is some part of the government and therefore it cannot focus on its main task which is to curb the inflation.
She reiterated that if the government tries to advance the economy with its past policies it will be unable to curb the inflation because curbing the inflation by the government needs precise planning and their proper implementations.
Ferial noted that one cannot expect a single-digit inflation rate this year because the market says so. She added that the supply-and-demand mechanism should determine the prices in the market and when there is not enough forex in the market, it is natural its price to go up. She reiterated that sanctions have also increased the price of forex in the country, noting that once Iran’s oil revenues used to exceed $100b but today it is around $16b and access to its money is also difficult.
She said that if the country can sell oil easily and return its money, it is expected the inflation and forex rate to decrease because curbing inflation is possible in the healthy economy while Iran’s economy is currently in the unhealthy condition.
She said that almost 70% of the trade in the world is done in dollar but it is wrong decision for Iran to focus on other currencies and restricting trade to some certain countries is not a correct policy and its outcomes are evident in the economy.
