TEHRAN- The 28th meeting of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (TCCIMA) Board of Representatives was held on Tuesday in which current issues of the country's economy, such as rising inflation, negative investment rates, and inappropriate policies were discussed.

As reported by the TCCIMA portal, the consequences of allocating energy subsidies and the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on the country's economy were also reviewed in two separate reports.

The meeting was attended by the TCCIMA Head Masoud Khansari and the members of the chamber’s board of representatives.

Speaking in the meeting Khansari stressed the need for the government representatives to attend the meetings of the TCCIMA more regularly and to have stronger communication with the private sector.

He noted that the Industry, Mining, and Trade Ministry has not yet introduced the ministry representatives to the chamber and expressed hope that the minister would take the necessary measures in this regard.

Stating that the upward trend of inflation in Iran is still continuing, Khansari noted that inflation was one of the major issues that the government promised to manage.

Referring to the latest data released by the Statistics Center of Iran (SCI) the official said: "Annual inflation up to [the Seventh Iranian calendar month of] Mehr was reported to be 45.4 percent, which although shows a decrease of 0.4 percent compared to the previous month, it is still a high rate."

Point-to-point inflation also reached 39.2 percent in the mentioned month, down 4.5 percent, he said.

“Today, the most important duty of the government and the private sector is to return hope to the society,” the official stressed.

He noted that according to official reports, in the first quarter of this year, the capital formation rate has been negative 3.5 percent, and it can be concluded that with the decrease in investment, the economy will also shrink.

“We cannot expect a high economic growth rate unless we have positive invest rates,” Khansari added.

EF/MA