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Gholam Reza Kord Zanganeh (Photo by Ali Hassanpour)
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By Sadeq Dehqan
Head of the Iranian Privatization Organization (IPO) Gholam Reza Kord Zanganeh said Sunday that by March almost 65 percent of government holdings (state-owned companies) worth about 700 trillion rials will be ceded to the private sector.
Addressing his first press conference in six months, he added, “Since 2005 (start of the Fourth Economic Development Plan) up to this month, government-owned companies worth over 543,880 billion rials were privatized. This year some 389 more companies will be taken over by the private sector.“
Zanganeh added that in 2009-2010 SPO priority will be selling oil refineries, power plants and insurance firms.
“To meet the targets of Vision 2025 it is necessary that annually 800 billion rials in foreign investment is attracted.“
In fiscal 2005-06 companies worth 760 billion rials, in 2006-07 some 25,160 billion rials, in 2007-08 almost 226,540 billion rials and in 2008-09 some 112,790 billion rials were bought by the private sector.
In the four and half months of the present Iranian year (started March 21) the sale of state companies generated close to 169,450 billion rials.“
Last year the total amount earned from the sales to the cooperative sector reached 15,450 billion rials.
“In the past four years, 262 companies were sold. The breakdown for each year is 50, 62, 130, 66 companies, respectively,“ he pointed out.
Zanganeh said the value of ’preferential stocks’ offered to 64,000 workers and managers since the start of the Fourth Plan is 8,800 billion rials.
An estimated 220 government companies are due to be sold in the next five years.
“Based on our plan of action, in the first quarter of this year 49 companies, in the second 91 firms, in the third 137 companies and in the fourth quarter 119 companies should be privatized. This is while 106 companies from the total of 389 to be sold should be offered in the bourse.“
He said that his organization’s budget for the present year is 50 trillion rials.
Over 12 million people were due to receive profit on their ’justice shares’ and so far close to 10.9 million have been paid.
