|
CBI’s Debt
Dropping
According to Mohsen Nourbakhsh, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran
(CBI), the required liquidity in the production sector and financial provision
of the state budget, on the one hand, plus control of the growth rate of
liquidity and curbing of inflation, on the other, have been the main goals of
the monetary and credit policies in 2002. Despite a 28.8% growth in liquidity
in the past year, the inflation rate which was projected to be at 17.4% in the
third development plan has in fact remained at 11.4%.
Due to the high liquidity growth rate, which
was appraised as 29.3% in the 2001 period and its expected on-going growth in
2002, the inflation rate was expected to rise in the second half of the year
and a reassessment of the budget was predicted. But, fortunately, the increase
in currency exchange earnings stabilized the inflation rate, had a positive
impact on the financial state of the government, injected stability within the
currency exchange market, increased imports and lowered the expected inflation
within the society.
In the same year, the
most important policy followed in the monetary and credit sectors was the
significant decrease in authorized bank deposits with the aim of increasing
the capability of granting loans, lowering interest rates and providing
facilities. At the same time the CBI provided stocks as a short-term
management tool to collect the surplus liquidity within the country's economy.
In the monetary sector the most important step taken was the rectification of
the direct taxation laws, reduction of the tax rates, improvement in the tax
collection system and finally the establishment of the Tax Levying
Organization.
The escalation of activities in various
sectors of the country's economy and the increase in agricultural, industrial
and mineral production, especially the boosting of profit – making in the
construction and housing sector, produced increased investment in the
mentioned areas.
The foreign debt of
Iran has decreased on average by 19.8% annually from $13.999
billion in 1998 to $7.214 billion in the end of 2001. In conclusion it can be
said that the general policies and measures adopted in 2001 have created more
internal stability and balance with subsequent economic stability in the
foreign sector. |
