Iran's 'Privatization Bill' ready next month

IranMania:

The government will complete its much-publicized Privatization Bill for submission to the Seventh Parliament by mid-May, said deputy minister of economic affairs and finance on Saturday. READ MORE

Heydar Mostakhdemin Hosseini told ISNA that the bill deals chiefly with issues related to the privatization goals and relevant responsibilities delegated to state organizations involved in the initiative.

“The bill also addresses other key issues such as overseeing procedures and economic rules that have to follow privatization,“ he said, adding that the 29-articled bill aims at boosting the share of private and cooperative sectors in economic activities.

The official said the Privatization Bill, once it becomes a law, could help improve the productivity rate at both the levels of human and financial resources.

“This bill gives high priority to competition and economic growth,“ he said, stressing that the bill has drawn up mechanisms on how to reduce the financial commitments of the government.

The Privatization Bill would be the Khatami administration’s first serious economic initiative in the year to March 2006.

This is while the Parliament already has the customs affairs and stock market bills at hand for ratification. The Parliament failed to look into the customs affairs and stock market bills in the last Iranian year due merely to its prolonged study of the budget bill.

The Khatami administration would reportedly spend the last few months of its second and last term trying only to pave the way for the incoming government to implement the key fourth five-year development plan (2005-2010).