Following Iranian president's televised interview on Saturday, a member of Iranian Parliament (Majlis) accused Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of diverting the public's attention and called for a closed-door session to discuss his comments.
We all have sworn to defend the constitution. But some parts of his remarks were not based on the constitution at all. He seeks to gain special authorities through integrated economic management which is clearly at odds with the country's constitution, the Mehr News Agency quoted Ahmad Tavakoli as saying.

"People should know that what he wants is to sharply increase the energy carriers' prices in order to make 250 billion U.S dollars. For example he wants to raise the gasoline price up to 50,000 rials (some $4 based on the official dollar rate) from the current price of 7,000 (some $0.5) rials," he said.

Majlis should hold a closed-door session immediately to study these remarks, he added.

Speaking on channel one of the IRIB television network live on Saturday evening, Ahmadinejad stated that the implementation of the subsidy reform plan has helped Iran's production sector, and the Islamic Republic registered economic growth of 5.2 percent in the last Iranian calendar year (ended March 19), which was among the highest in the world.

He noted that Iran earned $43 billion from non-oil exports, excluding the revenue from natural gas condensates, and this shows the subsidy reform plan has been a success.

The subsidy reform plan, which began in late 2010, has enabled the Iranian government to begin to gradually reduce energy subsidies over the course of five years, with low-income families compensated with direct cash handouts.

Ahmadinejad stated that Iran's inflation rate now stands at 26.1 percent.

The inflation rate rose to 20.9 percent by the end of 2011, which showed an 8.1-percent increase compared to the preceding year, he added.

Ahmadinejad also said that the adversaries are preparing to take new anti-Iran measures, but Iran has grown stronger and prepared some contingency plans to counter the West's pressure.
Iran has weathered the worst of the West's economic pressure, and the enemies' plots to ruin the Iranian banking and economic system have proven futile, he said.

By Trend

 

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