TEHRAN: Iran has transferred over $1.15 billion (38.386 trillion rials) worth of state shares to the private sector since the beginning of current Iranian calendar year (March 21, 2014) until March 6, 2015.
According to the current Iranian calendar year’s budget law, the Iranian Privatization Organization (IPO) is projected to deposit 77 trillion rials to the state coffers.
In May 2014, IPO Director Abdollah Pouri Hosseini said the country would privatize 186 state-run companies in Iranian calendar year 1393 (March 2014-March 2015).
He said that the companies consist of 27 huge companies, 76 large companies, 31 medium companies, and 31 companies of other sizes.
The government has envisioned a large privatization program in the Fifth Five-Year Development Plan (2010-2015), aiming to privatize about 20 percent of state-owned firms each year.
Under the present interpretation of the Article 44 of Iran’s Constitution, hundreds of state-owned companies have been privatized.
