The government of President Seyed Mohammad Khatami has decided to reduce the number of ministries by two.
The cabinet, which is chaired by Khatami, has voted to combine the Agriculture Ministry with the Construction Jihad Ministry and fold the Industries Ministry in with the Mines and Metals Ministry.
Although the move comes almost late, it is bound to increase efficiency and lower spending by reducing the huge size of the government, which has imposed a heavy burden on the national budget.
Currently, the society is facing major problems such as poverty, corruption, discrimination and soaring inflation and unemployment.
According to statistics, a large number of university graduates including 10,000 medical doctors are jobless, and the majority of the Iranian people have to work from dawn to dusk to make ends meet due to rising inflation.
Creating jobs requires more investment by the government, and the merger of the ministries will certainly result in saving some money that can be invested to create jobs for the youth and improve the economic and social conditions in the country.
The merger of the ministries is the second such move taken by the government. In June the Plan and Budget Organization and the Administrative and Employment Affairs Organization were merged to give birth to Planning and Management Organization.
The merger of the ministries is a step in the right direction, and the government is expected to work out more plans to increase the efficiency of the state bodies, prevent the waste of national budget and spend the public purse where it benefits the nation most.