TERHRAN- Iranian Privatization Organization (IPO) has transferred 38 billion rials (about $903,686) worth of the state-run shares to the private sector in the past two months, Tasnim news agency reported on Monday.

The shares of 630 Iranian enterprises are planned to be transferred to the private sector by the end of current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2019).

The list of the enterprises to be privatized this year was approved by the Divestiture Board of Iran’s Privatization Organization (IPO) on May 4.

Implementation of privatization plan aimed at more productivity, investment making, job creation, promotion of trade balance, more competition in domestic economy, and reducing financial and management burden on the government has been under the spotlight in Iran over the past decade.

The law on implementation of the general policies of the Article 44 of Iran's Constitution on privatizing state-owned companies was declared in 2006 in a bid to downsize the government and promote the private sector’s role in the national economy.

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, some state-owned companies

have been privatized to reduce their financial burden on the country’s budget and also increase their productivity.

MA