TERHRAN- Iranian Privatization Organization (IPO) has transferred 6.849 trillion rials (about $146.06 million) worth of the state-run shares to the private sector since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2017), Tasnim news agency reported on Saturday.

Of the mentioned figure, 6.745 trillion rials (about $143.8 million) has been divested through holding bids and 104 billion rials (about $2.2 million) via stock exchange market.

The government envisioned a large privatization program in the Fifth Five-Year National Development Plan (2010-2015), aiming to privatize about 20 percent of the state-owned firms each year. Under the present interpretation of the Article 44 of Iran’s constitution, some state-owned companies have been privatized to reduce their financial burden on the country’s budget and also increase their productivity. 

Downsizing the government is on the agenda, but a number of factors have been hindering privatization trend in the country, among them government’s high interference in the management of the transferred companies is a challenging one.

In a press conference on January 31, IPO Head Mir Ali Pouri-Hosseini announced that President Hassan Rouhani has ordered to transfer the rest shares of those companies that the government’s interference in their management is more than its shares.

MA