ISFAHAN Iranian President managed to successfully do away with $36 billion in outstanding foreign debt as of the day he took office three years ago, an economist said here on Wednesday.
Addressing the second day of a seminar to assess President Khatami's government in this central city, Abdol-Hossein Sassan said: "Lhatami's strategy of detente revived the shattered OPEC and led to Iran-Saudi normalization of relations." Noting that the then Iran-Saudi strained relations was to the benefit of the U.S. and Israel, the analyst said: "With the consolidation of OPEC and the oil price hike, Iran and other Muslim member states will regain their rights." He said that when Khatami came to power in 1997, the country could not even pay its $1.5 billion debt.
But, by March 20, 2001 (end of the current Iranian calendar year) the Iranian government is expected to have $10 billion in surplus foreign exchange earnings.
With international oil prices remaining at a decade-high of more than $35 per barrel, Iran's crude oil exports of some 2.4 million barrels per day will continue at a price hovering $26 a barrel resulting in a sizable surplus income, well above that predicted at the time of the budget approval which was based on $15 per barrel.
Sassan also praised Khatami for releasing credits owed to the banking network.
Among other economic indicators, he touched on the inflation rate which he said has declined from 50 percent in the Iranian calender year of 1374 (March 1995-March 1996).
Sassan, however, criticized the country's taxation rules, saying they undermine producers.
He said Iran needs to raise the amount of foreign investment in the country by seven percent and economic growth by six percent if it is to create 3.6 million jobs for its booming young population over the next five years. The unemployment rate already stands officially at 16 percent.
(IRNA)