In a live TV interview on Monday night, President Mahmud Ahmadinejad revealed the long-awaited economic reform plan.

The plan calls for energy and bread subsidies to be eliminated and would deliver funds directly to low-income families. The plan is also meant to reform the customs, tax, and insurance systems.
If it is implemented successfully, it will finally end the waste of national revenues, especially in the energy sector.
The plan will also promote energy conservation, save billions of dollars, and protect the environment.
The main beneficiaries of energy subsidies have been the rich, a situation which has occurred at the cost of social justice.
The move has been welcomed by experts and politicians of various political persuasions. However, all economists and MPs insist that such a great task requires careful study before being undertaken.
If all goes well, a competitive economy will emerge and industries will be forced to upgrade their standards or lose ground to their competitors.
The Ahmadinejad administration, which has always said the establishment of social justice is its main goal, will be able to save face if it succeeds in implementing the economic reform plan professionally.
Former commerce minister Yahya Al-e Es’haq called the plan a very ‘brave’ and ‘daring’ decision which would establish economic balance in the country.
If the plan is implemented successfully, it “will definitely bring about serious reforms”, especially in spending subsidies in a proper way, Al-e Es’haq told the Mehr News Agency on Tuesday.
“The implementation of the economic reform plan will be major surgery on the country’s economy,” he added.
He said the plan will positively affect citizens’ lives and lead to competitive industrial and production activities.
Al-e Es’haq, who is currently the chairman of the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines, said the organization is ready to provide technical assistance to the government to help it realize its goals.
He also noted that successive governments had attempted to redirect subsidies.
However, if the current administration does it successfully, it will be a “great step” in the history of the country’s economic system, especially since a great percentage of the national revenues is allocated for energy subsidies, he added.
About 100 billion in energy subsidies, which mostly go to the middle and upper classes, have created an economic imbalance in the society, he observed.
People are hungry for economic reform
MP Ezatollah Yusefian, who sits on the Majlis Budget Committee, said the people would endorse the president’s ideas, noting, “Society is hungry for economic reform.”
According to the plan, food subsidies would be sent directly to citizens’ bank accounts and immediately after the implementation of the plan, they would be allowed to withdraw the money