TEHRAN — In a televised speech broadcast by local Hamedan TV channel on Friday, presidential candidate Abdolnasser Hemmati said if he is elected president, he will select 50% of his cabinet team from women and the youth, and employ women in 30% of government positions.

He said now the economic condition in the country entails serious reforms.

"Currently, more than 60 percent of the people are concerned about livelihoods and the economy, so the future government cannot be non-economic, and we need to avoid past mistakes and reform the economic and governance trail," he said. 

Hemmati said that these days the purchasing power of the people has decreased, explaining, "Investment and productivity growth have decreased. I was in charge of the economy and I was the head of the central bank. I know the problems are serious and we have no time to make mistakes.”

The former central banker said it is the economy that must govern politics, and if that does not happen, Iran may continue on the same path of inefficiency, inefficient allocation of resources, and increased government intervention in the economy.

He reiterated his slogan of “interaction from homes to the world,” noting that interaction between family members, members of society, organizations, and foreign countries is not optimal.

And in some cases, he said, it is “confrontation” that depletes Iran’s strength, and the governance must be based on resolving problems through interaction.

“We must remove barriers to economic growth. The unpredictability of the economy is a deadly poison to domestic and foreign investors, and we need to curb inflation,” he pointed out. 

Hemmati said that most of the problems are due to sanctions and the incapability of the central bank, adding that the central bank alone cannot solve the problems.

“We need to lift the sanctions because they have affected all government revenues and economic relations. At one time our annual revenue was $100 billion, but in 2019 it was reduced to $5 billion,” he stated. 

Hemmati said that he is not competing with the other five candidates, but his rival is refusal to attend the ballot boxes, and if people participate in the elections and a decision is made by collective wisdom, they will never make a mistake.

“In my government, I will pay serious attention to foreign policy in the direction of national interests and development. we can interact with the East, our neighbors, the West and Africa, because we will not get anywhere with confrontation and people's livelihood problems will not be solved by isolation, confrontation and sanctions. It is wrong to make progress without interaction.”

Hemmati continued by saying that the country is gifted with vast resources, which can seriously boost Iran’s development. 

“On the other hand, we have good social capital in the country that must be strengthened because, unfortunately, the trust of the people has been damaged.”

The presidential candidate said that the government must build highways, provide internet platforms, build railways, and invest in infrastructure in general. It should not interfere in the details of the economy and pricing.

Hemmati added, “Production barriers such as licenses, insurance and taxes make the investor regret and cause a recession, so we must do all the business environment to develop production.”

The former central banker concluded by saying that Iran needs to solve the basic problems in the next four years and achieve positive economic growth of 5% per year and control inflation in the range of 8 to 12% within four years, because controlling inflation means controlling the purchasing power of the people.
 

SA/PA