Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani waits for guests during the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) in Tehran, Iran November 23, 2015. Reuters
J. Matthew McInnis & Jordan Olmstead, AEI: Is Rouhani’s image as economic savior crumbling?
Hassan Rouhani was elected president of Iran in 2013 with two missions: get out from underneath international sanctions and fix the economy. But despite his success with the nuclear deal, it increasingly appears Rouhani will be unable to deliver on a better life for most Iranians anytime soon. The knives are beginning to come out.
First, some numbers. Rouhani’s austerity measures did help reduce inflation from 40 percent in 2013 to 14 percent in 2015. Yet these policies had a painful impact on most Iranians. The official Statistical Centre of Iran reports that Iran’s unemployment rate actually rose between 2013 and 2014, and in March, Iranian analyst Majid Salimi Boroujeni warned that the unemployment rate would remain between “10 and 12 percent” in 2015. To add further worry, ISNA news agency revealed in late October that inflation had only decreased 0.7 percent in 2015. The diminishing returns from Rouhani’s approach are even more worrisome in the context of expected low oil prices for the foreseeable future.
WNU Editor: Everyone is getting restless. The high cost of being involved in the Iraqi and Syrian conflicts is not helping the situation either.
1 comment:
Obama can send Joe Biden or maybe Huma to Iran to shore up his ally Rouhani. They can give the "Summer of Recovery" speeches.
On a serious note, I would have thought the end of sanctions would have given them a shot in the arm. Apparently, the Iranian economy is more mismanaged than that. The Persians are or were a very dynamic and educated people. It takes a lot of tyranny to suppress that.
Post a Comment