Iranian legislators have passed a bill to make Saturdays, in addition to Fridays, weekend holidays.
The legislation has yet to be confirmed by the Guardian Council to turn into a law.
During the Wednesday voting, lawmaker Mohammadreza Pour-Ebrahimi said in favor of the bill that the opinions of the Iran Chamber of Commerce and the Iran Chamber of Cooperatives have to be taken into account as they believe that it is more reasonable for the country’s foreign trade not to make Thursdays a weekend day and are in favor of the Saturdays.
He added that 45,000 economic experts have signed a petition which calls for announcing Saturdays as holiday, and that Iran has been losing $8 billion due to the fact that Saturdays have not been a holiday.
Another MP, Mohammad Reza Mirtajedini, said he thinks it would be better to add Thursdays to the weekend days.
He argued that 85% of Iran’s foreign trade is with Muslim countries and 15% with other nations, saying the Islamic Republic should not make a decision that would harm the culture of the society.
The new legislation also cuts the working hours from 44 hours a week to 42.5 hours a week and from 176 hours per month to 170 hours.