TEHRAN - The Director of the Management and Planning Organization (MPO), Mohammad Sattarifar, submitted his resignation to President Mohammad Khatami a couple of days ago, a top executive official told the TEHRAN TIMES.

A number of cabinet members had complained about Sattarifar's weak performance, according to the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said that over the past few years a number of experienced managers have been replaced by inexperienced and incompetent people.

Given the procedure of budget preparation over the past two years, it seems that his move is a measure to pressure President Khatami.

Over the past few years, despite the existence of a relatively stable oil market and regardless of the fact that the government was able to meet all its expenditure requirements, it faced a critical budget deficit which adversely affected all development projects. The government even reduced the budget of the Education Ministry by 10 percent.

It was customary for the government to present its budget bill to the Parliament in November every year, but it has not yet prepared next year's budget bill, he said.

Analysts argue that Sattarifar is trying to externalize the shortcomings of the MPO and put the blame on the president.

It is said that Khatami is not satisfied with the performance of the MPO, but has not yet reacted to the resignation of the MPO director.