The head of Iran Chamber of Commerce mining commission said the government should focus on reforming laws to support businesses rather than distributing a 7,000 trillion rials ($4.5 billion) support package, arguing that cash aid risks reinforcing rent-seeking and corruption.
Bahram Shakouri said unifying the exchange rate and removing multiple currency tiers could help stabilize prices and eliminate rents that have burdened the economy and the public for years.
“One of the long-standing demands of economic actors has been the removal of rent and corruption imposed by a multi-rate currency system,” Shakouri said in an interview with the Iran Chamber of Commerce news website.
He added that the proposed support package, aimed at compensating businesses for rising costs, was unlikely to be effective, as genuine private firms and small and medium-sized enterprises would struggle to access the funds.
“Given the existing rent and corruption, parts of this money may end up benefiting those who do not deserve it,” Shakouri said, calling instead for regulatory reforms that directly protect and empower economic actors.
Shakouri said that instead of approving large cash allocations at a time when neither banks nor the government have the capacity to finance them, authorities could provide more effective support by amending domestic regulations.
He pointed to measures such as removing foreign exchange repatriation requirements, easing pressures created by such rules on businesses, cutting import tariffs on machinery, equipment and raw materials, lowering tax rates, and reducing the burden imposed by the Social Security Organization, adding that policy-making should allow economic actors “to breathe” and survive under the current difficult economic conditions.