TEHRAN – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that his government prioritizes cutting unemployment and creating over 900,000 job opportunities per year.

During a meeting of cabinet with Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, Rouhani said that “unemployment” and “economic problems” are the most serious challenges for the government.

He added that “fighting poverty” and “realizing social justice” are among other goals that the government seeks to reach.

The 12th government will make efforts to keep inflation at single-digit rate, Rouhani noted.

“Last year was an exceptional year for the economy of the country, because we witnessed double-digit rate of economic growth and Iran was first in the world from the economic growth point of view,” he added.

He also highlighted the necessity of making the economy and banking system more people-friendly.

“If we want to reach this goal, the banking interest must be reduced and ministries and banks are required to refrain from doing business,” he added.

Elsewhere, Rouhani said that the issue of water shortage and economic problems are among the other issues that the 12th government will prioritize.

He described “renovation of the industries”, “development of knowledge-based economy” and “reliance on non-oil revenues” as other priorities of the government.

Rouhani also said that the government promised the people to eradicate “absolute poverty” and added that reforming the system of paying taxes is essential to achieve this goal.

Iran’s inflation rate had climbed above 30 percent, before Iranian President Hassan Rouhani came to power in mid-2013. Nonetheless, for the first time over the past 26 years, that figure declined into a single-digit row, bottoming out at 8.6 percent in June 2016. Despite that fact, according to the country’s Central Bank report for the 12-month period ending on July 21, inflation rate peaked at 10.3 percent.

NA