TEHRAN – Economic experts and scholars with the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture (ICCIMA) have called on the government to set economic stability and development as priorities in drafting the country’s seventh five-year National Development Plan (NDP).

Members of the ICCIMA Department of Commissions, Assemblies, and Councils on Monday held a meeting with the head of the Seventh National Development Plan Secretariat at the Planning and Budget Organization (PBO) to discuss the process of preparing the plan, the ICCIMA portal reported.

In the meeting, the attendees reviewed a report on the shortcomings and challenges of the sixth National Development Plan by the ICCIMA Research Center and made some constructive proposals for the preparation of the new plan.

Speaking in this gathering, ICCIMA Deputy Head for Commissions, Assemblies and Councils Affairs Ali Cheraghvand also mentioned a report by the parliament research center on the implementation of the last six national development plans, saying that only 10 percent of the goals set in those plans have been realized.

“These statistics and information about the implementation of development plans show that, unfortunately, instead of a comprehensive plan, so far, we have only compiled some notebooks on our wishes and hopes,” the official said.

Referring to the process of preparing the seventh National Development Plan he called on the government to try to place more attention to its main beneficiaries, the private sector, in this plan, considering the special conditions governing the social, economic and political aspects of the country.

To help the government, a series of expert and detailed studies have been carried out by the ICCIMA committees and research center since 2019 which can be a good guide for the government in formulating this plan, Cheraghvand said.

In mid-September, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei outlined the general policies of the country’s Seventh Five-year National Development Plan (2022-2026).

The mentioned policies were determined with a focus on economic development and the promotion of justice as the major priorities.

The leader set an average economic growth of eight percent as the goal for the duration of the mentioned plan, emphasizing the increase in the efficiency of all production factors including human resources, capital, technology, and management.

Following the announcement of the general policies of the plan by the leader, President Ebrahim Raisi tasked the country’s Planning and Budget Organization (PBO) to officially start the compilation of the plan on September 14.

Establishing stability in the prices of consumer items and forex rates, reaching a single-digit inflation rate, as well as directing liquidity and bank credits toward productive sectors are among the major policies set by the plan.

Reforming the structure of the government budget was also among the major policies stressed in the Seventh National Development Plan.

Transforming the country’s tax system with the approach of turning taxes into the main source of government revenues is also another major policy set by the plan.

Establishing a comprehensive social security system that encompasses relief, support, and insurance at the basic, surplus, and supplementary levels to provide fair services was the final economic policy that the executive bodies are obliged to follow in the said five years.

EF/MA