A comparative report on the ninth government’s performance in such fields as agriculture and animal husbandry, housing, oil and energy, banking system, budget, justice stocks, commerce, attraction of investment, labor market, early productive companies and development projects has been released.

The report issued by Information Council of the government enumerates the following as the main achievements of the ninth government:

Cash purchase of strategic agriculture products was done for the first time by the ninth government.

1. Cash purchase of wheat: One of the main problems faced by the agriculture sector during the recent years was that farmers received their money many months after the government took delivery of their crop. The delay amounted to three years under the previous governments and the main burden of production cost was put on the shoulder of farmers. Under the ninth government, for the first time in contemporary history, a plan for purchasing strategic crops was implemented through allocation of 10,000 billion rials and the plan not only satisfied the farmers, but has encouraged them to increase their yield. During the current year, the government has modified the plan to purchase wheat as a strategic crop, and now it includes four staple crops, which account for 95 percent of total agricultural products of the country.

2. Sustainability of wheat production and exports: During the second half of the Iranian year 1384 (2005-06), despite persistent draught in 11 provinces, Iran attained self-sufficiency in wheat production through good management and transfer of technical know-how and wheat purchase has increased 5 percent. During 2006, the way was paved for more wheat production, so that, for the first time in the history of Iran, the country became a wheat exporter. The measure by the ninth government has changed Iran from one of the most important purchasers of wheat to an exporter country.

3. During 2006, 300,000 tons of oil seeds were purchased, showing an increase of 32 percent compared to the preceding year, which was a major step with regard to achieving independence and self-sufficiency in production of essential agricultural products.

4. Extensive planning, which protected Iran against the risk of bird flu was a major cause of honor for the ninth government, which greatly helped farmers and animal breeders. At the same time, many cases of bird flu were detected in neighboring countries during 2005 and 2006 and caused many problems for poultry breeding sector of those countries.

5. Production of 800,000 tons of red meat, 1.237 million tons of chicken meat, 7.179 million tons of milk and 758,000 tons of eggs were major steps taken in line with assuring food security, which was unparalleled in the preceding years.

6. Added value of agriculture sector has increased from 6.5 percent to 7.1 percent under the ninth government, which has surpassed the Fourth Economic Development Plan’s goals. Also, in 2006, Iran’s agricultural exports reached 2 billion dollars for the first time.

7. Although regulating agricultural crops market has cost the government 1000 billion rials for advance purchase and transportation of products, it has satisfied most people and led to relative stable prices for agricultural products during the New Year holidays for the first time in the past 10 years.

8. Decreasing bank interest rate for the agriculture sector, which was made possible through paying subsidies on facilities granted to the agriculture sector and whose rate will fall to half of the target considered for the current year (5 percent), has paved the way for development of the agriculture sector and optimal utilization of water potentials.

9. The government has allocated 30,000 billion rials to guaranteed purchase of agricultural crops during the current year of which 25000 billion rials has been considered for wheat purchase and 5000 billion rials has been set aside as bank facilities used to fund guaranteed purchase of other agricultural products.

10. Investments made by the government in agriculture and natural resources have increased to 53.2 percent during the Iranian calendar year 1384 (2005-06). It has also increased by 151 percent in the nine months of the next Iranian year (2006-07) compared to the corresponding period of the preceding year.

1. Comprehensive housing plan: The plan, which is among the most comprehensive housing plans to be formulated after victory of the Islamic Revolution focuses on providing low price homes and increasing resistance of buildings along with improving the situation of urban areas and solving problems faced in suburbs. The plan has been construed as the first radical measure to be taken by the government to solve the housing problem.

2. The ninth government has taken a special approach to rebuild rural domiciles and it has been decided that 200,000 residential units out of 2 million rural domiciles should be rebuilt per year. The president later ordered the figure to be increased to 300,000. Further plans are being made to increase the figure to 500,000. This is a major step to curtail migration to big cities by villagers.

3. The government is trying to define limits of cities and, thus far, the vicinity of 164 cities has been clearly defined. Offering participation bonds and special discounts for construction of new houses in place of old ones is another measure that has been taken to rebuild age old residential areas. Financial resources allocated to the purpose in various provinces are 200 times the previous figures.

4. During nine months of the Iranian calendar year 1385 (2006-07), private sector investment in urban areas (at current prices) has increased 10.1 percent to hit 90,400 billion rials. Growth in private investment during the said year compared to the preceding year stood at 17.5 percent for Tehran and 32.5 percent in other big cities.

An unprecedented figure of 3 billion dollars was attracted to South Pars region in the Iranian calendar year, 1385 (2006-07).

1. During the Iranian year 1385 (2006-07), 3.6 billion dollars in final investment was made in gas sector while total value of underway projects for the gas sector has been estimated at more than 20 billion dollars. By the end of the Fourth Economic Development Plan, the National Iranian Gas Company aims to supply natural gas to 9,000 villages, 85 cities and 1,500 industrial units.

2. Thus far, 13 billion dollars have been invested in South Pars gas field, while in 2006 alone, about 3 billion dollars were attracted, which surpassed the annual investments that were made under previous governments.

3. The agreement for the annual export of 5 billion dollars worth of gas to Europe was a major achievement of the ninth government. The agreement was signed with Austria.

4. Iran’s petrochemical production will be well over 30 million tons during the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21, 2007). The figure will reach 58 million tons by the end of the Fourth Economic Development Plan. The ninth government has attracted 2.5 billion dollars per annum investments in the field and, thus far, total investments in petrochemical industry have reached 5 billion dollars, leading to registration of the highest recorded petrochemical production and export in the past years.

5. Thus far, the ninth government has attracted 38 billion dollars of foreign investment through signing foreign contracts for the oil and gas sector (the highest figure recorded in the previous years).

6. Scientific studies during the said period led to discovery of a big oil field with in situ reserves of about 1.6 billion barrels of crude oil. Also, prospects for future oil production have increased by 650 million barrels. According to the latest results, thus far, more than 6.5 billion barrels of in situ oil reserves have been discovered in southern oil rich regions of Iran.

7. The year 1385 (2006-07) was one of the most striking years in terms of oil investment, so that, attraction of investment has increased more than 9 percent despite economic sanctions and escalating international pressures.

8. During the sixteen years that preceded election of the ninth government, a total of 110,000 cars were converted to double fuel system to reduce overall consumption of gasoline. However, during 2006 alone, the government increased that figure to more than 400,000 vehicles.

The ninth government, for the first time, reduced share of oil revenues from the budget to 10 percent.

1. For the first time in the history of Iran, the ninth government’s efforts to reduce dependence of national economy on oil revenues bore fruit. Oil revenues accounted for 63 percent of Iran’s national budget in 2004. The figure fell by more than 10 percent last year to hit 52 percent and is expected to further drop to below 50 percent during the current Iranian calendar year (started March 21, 2007), which will be unprecedented in the whole history of Iran.

2. Official figures produced by the Central Bank of Iran show that implementation of the plan to reduce interest rate of bank facilities in the Iranian years 1384 and 1385 has increased nongovernmental deposits of banks by 29 percent to over 1,120,000 billion rials. The measure has not only eliminated doubts about the banking system being based on usury, but has also led to 170,000 billion rials in bank profits.

3. Granting bank facilities to small enterprises has increased by 100 percent under the ninth government and has reached 100,000 billion rials in the Iranian year 1385.

4. Increased salary of civil servants and teachers at a rate that was higher than the inflation rate was among major steps taken by the ninth government to boost their purchasing power. In this way, salary coefficients of civil servants were increased by about 14 percent in 2006 while the corresponding figure for teachers stood at about 16.5 percent. For the first time, this plan led to 800,000 rials increase in the salary of low paid employees.

5. Average inflation rate (annual increase in price of 310 items of goods and services) stood at 25.3 percent during eight years of presidency of Hashemi Rafsanjani and reached 15.8 percent under Khatami’s government. The figure, however, fell to 12.6 percent in 2006, which was the lowest inflation figure during the past 16 years.

The plan for distributing justice stocks among people was the first step to be taken by the government in line with promotion of social justice.

1. Studies carried out on the dividend of justice stocks show that the stocks have thus far produced 8 percent of net profit for their owners and their output has been estimated at 400,000 rials in return for every 5,000,000 rials of stocks. It is predicted that owners of justice stocks will also receive another 10 percent in benefit in addition to the said dividend. Implementation of the justice stocks plan is the first step to be taken by the government to help all social classes have company stocks as an asset.

2. During the past 16 years that preceded the ninth government, former governments distributed a total of 35,000 billion rials of stocks among people. But the ninth government has handed out 26,500 billion rials of stocks in the first year of its term alone (through selling stocks at Tehran Stock Exchange and distribution of justice stocks), which constituted about 80 percent of stocks that were handed out during 16 years that preceded election of the ninth government.

Import of goods has greatly reduced under the ninth government.

1. Iran’s imports in 1383 (2004-05) stood at 35 billion dollars, up by 33 percent compared to a year before. The figure reached 39.7 billion dollars in 2005 showing an increase of 12.3 percent. In fact, it had grown by one-third of 2004. The figure further grew by 4.1 percent in 2006 and reached 41.4 billion dollars to indicate sharp reduction of imports.

2. On the other hand, exports have been steeply rising. Iran’s export hit 7.6 billion dollars in the Iranian year 1383 (2004-05), but increased by 46 percent to hit 11.1 billion dollars in the subsequent year most of which was attributable to the state-run sectors. The figure reached 16.3 billion dollars in 2006 up by 47 percent compared to the preceding year.

3. Last year, for the first time, more than 30,000 sedan and other vehicles worth 350 million dollars were exported from Iran.

4. The value of non-oil exports increased by 6.4 percent in April 2007 compared to the corresponding period of 2006 to reach 1.043 million dollars.

5. As a result of establishment of joint economic commissions with various countries, the year 1385 (2006-07) was one of the most prosperous years for Iran’s international trade.

6. During the Iranian year 1383 (2004-05), the government aimed to attract 2.7 billion dollars in investment and the figure reached 10.3 billion dollars in 2006. This year’s figure will stand higher than the preceding years.

1. According to official figures released by Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the number of incoming files is threefold the outgoing ones and this shows that new jobs have been created and the government plans to create productive jobs have been fruitful.

2. According to a report issued by Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, more than 760,000 plans related to early productive enterprises required about 100,000 billion rials of credits have been forwarded to banks in 2006. Assessment of unemployment figures in 30 provinces shows that the unemployment rate has, for the first time, decreased in 17 provinces. The unemployment rate decreased by 0.3 percent in 2006 compared to a year before. Also, the unemployment rate for 2006 and 2005 has been reported at 11.2 percent and 11.5 percent, respectively. The downturn in unemployment rate has occurred at a time that the government needs to create 1.2 million jobs per year.

3. Although the young population is on the rise, unemployment rate among the youth ageing 15-29 years, which stood at 24 percent in 2004, has decreased to 23 percent and the government is considering plans to further reduce that rate.

4. The number of development projects implemented in 2006 has increased by 2.42 percent compared to development projects implemented in 2004, which is the highest increase in the sector in the past two decades. That is, development projects have decreased from 57,500 billion rials (5.19 percent of total budget) in 2004 to 185,000 billion rials in 2006.