Iran’s Spiritual Leader Ali Khamenei expressed his dissatisfaction with the living and economic situation in the country, while President Ebrahim Raisi defended his government’s economic performance, pointing to an improvement and a significant decrease in inflation.
In his annual televised address, Khamenei said the past year was “full of joys and bitterness,” stressing that economic and living problems were among the regretful developments.
At the same time, he spoke of “good work” and “some progress” in curbing the inflation and promoting production.
For the upcoming year, the Iranian leader launched the slogan of “productive boom with people’s participation.” It is the ninth year in a row that carries a purely economic slogan, since the conclusion of the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the major powers, under which international economic sanctions were lifted in January 2016, before former US President Donald Trump reinstated them in August 2018.
Since 1999, Khamenei starts each new year by launching an annual slogan to be the focus of the policies of the state apparatus, especially the government and parliament.
“After reviewing the opinions of experts, I came to the conclusion that the main key to solving the country’s problems is production, national production. That is why we have relied in recent years on our own,” Khamenei said in his address.
On the foreign policy level, he said that the government’s moves in various economic and political fields “were good news,” but he described the developments in Gaza as “bitter events in our foreign issues.”
For his part, Raisi said that his government had attracted foreign investments amounting to $11 billion.
This investment is certain, and not just on paper,” he said in a televised speech, noting that official statistics show an average economic growth rate of 6 percent over the past year.
He continued: “The inflation rate has decreased, although prices are still high... but the indicators show that we have chosen the right path for a sustainable decline in inflation and economic growth, with the help of people and activists in the economic field.”
