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January 28, 2025

Interview with Mohsen Ali Zadeh, member of the Economic Commission of Parliament, regarding the return of Kalaberg/ Ali Kalai.

According to him, the plan for popularizing subsidies is part of the overall policies of the system that all authorities must adhere to. These words are from Mohsen Ali Zadeh, the representative of Sepidan County in Fars Province in the eleventh session of the Islamic Consultative Assembly; a representative who has been a member of the Economic Commission since the beginning of the current parliament and, according to the website of the Center for Parliamentary Research, holds a PhD in economics. However, in response to some of our questions about the plan known as “popular and fair distribution of subsidies,” he said he does not know and is not informed.

A few days ago, Majid Ansari, a member of the Social Commission of the Parliament, stated that “popularizing subsidies is a bitter medicine that must be taken and endured.” (1) We began our conversation with Mr. Alizadeh, a member of the Economic Commission, with this question and asked what solutions have been considered to reduce this hardship, given that the people must endure it.

This member of the Parliament’s Economic Commission, however, briefly stated in response that this statement was made by one of our colleagues and has not been discussed in the Economic Commission of the Parliament. This is while the mentioned member of the Social Commission of the Parliament also stated in his remarks that “the implementation of the plan to popularize subsidies may have consequences for the lives of vulnerable groups.” (1) Now, why are statements of this nature, which concern the lives of people and their economy, and which the Economic Commission of the Parliament should be sensitive to, not being raised in this commission, has become a question for us, and Mr. Alizadeh also explicitly stated that this plan is from the government and “we do not have a solution for it in the commission.”

است

The government has decided and taken action.

As Mohsen Ali-Zadeh, a member of the Economic Commission of the Parliament, says, this plan is a decision of the government and there was no solution for it in the commission, and the government has taken action. According to this representative of the parliament, whose duty is to oversee the performance of the government, the only discussion was whether this plan was implemented correctly or not. Ali-Zadeh told Khat-e-Solh magazine that the Economic Commission has identified flaws in the initial evaluations of subsidies and the parliament is monitoring the issue, but has no other suggestions or proposals. According to a member of the Economic Commission, the government’s flaws in the evaluations have been identified and reported to them. Ali-Zadeh also continues, “Based on the latest report received from the government, some of them have been corrected and others need to be corrected, and we have announced that action should be taken regarding them.”

The subsidies have not been properly allocated to the target.

Mohsen Ali-Zadeh, a member of the Economic Commission of the Parliament, believes that from 1397 until now, and before the implementation of the recent subsidy plan, there has been no action taken to address the issue. He explains that it was planned for the subsidies to be distributed equally among different deciles, but this has resulted in higher income deciles sometimes receiving more subsidies than lower income deciles. He continues by giving an example that deciles one, two, and three have received an amount between 2.5 to 2.8 million tomans in a year, while deciles eight, nine, and ten have received an amount close to 5 million tomans. This shows that the subsidies have not been distributed fairly and have not achieved their intended goal. This member of the Economic Commission of the Parliament speaks of a peace plan, saying that “this reform of the subsidy payment structure aims to distribute the subsidies fairly and bring them to the hands of lower and

But it seems that this is not the view of all members of the Islamic Consultative Assembly. Badri Sadif, representative of Ardabil in the Assembly, says that “prices are increasing under the pretext of popularizing subsidies and the government has no plan to control inflation.” He speaks of the people being crushed under economic pressure; (2) a statement that is in line with the general experience of the people, especially the low-income classes in the country, and the opinions of independent experts, but it seems that the view of the Economic Commission of the Assembly is something else and has come from elsewhere.

It is a general policy and all forces must adhere to it.

Mohsen Ali Zadeh speaks to the magazine “Khat-e-Solh” and says that the plan known as “Popularization of Subsidies” is a general policy and all authorities must follow it. The term “general policy” has a meaning in the Iranian constitution. According to Article 110 of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Iran, “determining the general policies of the system of the Islamic Republic of Iran after consultation with the Expediency Council” and “supervising the proper implementation of the general policies of the system” are among the duties and powers of the leadership of the Islamic Republic of Iran; in other words, according to Ali Zadeh’s statement, a member of the parliament, the plan known as “Popularization and Fair Distribution of Subsidies” is part of the general policies of the system and the executive and legislative powers of the system are obliged to obey and implement it; it is the order of the leader of the

According to a member of the Economic Commission of the Parliament, the Parliament is in agreement with the government in implementing this plan, but this requires more attention and inspections from the government; meaning that the orders of the leader must be carried out and only in a few cases can opinions be expressed.

On December 18, 2010, Dr. Freiborz Raees Dana, a late economist, was arrested at his home after speaking with foreign media about the implementation of the targeted subsidy plan. This plan, which was the previous version of the current popular subsidy plan, was referred to as a “comprehensive attack on the empty tables of workers and laborers.” (3) The truth of this statement became apparent in the following years. It seems that on that day, the order came from above and the critic of the order, a high-ranking official of the regime, was arrested and dealt with by security forces.

ایم

We have taken measures against smuggling.

Mohsen Ali-Zadeh, representative and member of the Economic Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, talks about the “Popularization of Subsidies” plan, which has tackled smuggling. According to him, “Our statistics and field studies show that many essential goods in our border markets have had a significant increase in prices.” He says that the subsidies that were previously paid were beneficial for people outside the country’s borders, and now the traffic at our borders for purchasing essential goods has greatly decreased. Ali-Zadeh believes that “the increase in the prices of essential goods is due to the removal of their subsidies and their payment to low-income households.” According to him, this increase in prices has caused people to not come from outside the country to purchase essential goods and not buy them from Iran. He explains that these are issues that can be investigated in the field, and he himself is a testament to the fact that in the past, all the things that were given a four thousand and two

Mr. Representative of the Economic Commission of the Parliament, of course, in response to the peace line, referred to one of the borders and said that there has been less traffic there. He does not mention a specific border, but perhaps we can talk about the western borders of the country, where every day, kolbars carry goods across. Perhaps this plan may reduce the cost of transporting goods across the borders, but it does not solve the main issue, which is the reason for kolbari. Those who are half of them have a bachelor’s degree or higher, are killed at the border while kolbari, and their only reason is economic problems. (4) The Parliament, the government, and the general policies of the system and its enforcers may be able to solve or reduce the problem of smuggling in this way, but it seems they do not have a solution for the economic problems of the people who are forced to do kolbari.

Is Jabran short on budget?

We ask Ali Zadeh, a member of the Economic Commission of Parliament, about the recent decrease in government revenues and some experts believe that the reason for implementing this plan was to compensate for the budget deficit. Did the decrease in oil revenues and the increasing budget deficit play a role in this policy?

He responds that he doubts it and rejects this claim.

But the claim that he rejects has supporters who question it; for example, Dr. Albert Baghizian, a professor of economics at Tehran University, says that perhaps this plan and the removal of the four thousand and two hundred tomans currency “aims to reduce the budget deficit caused by paying subsidies to importers.” (5) However, he also says that this plan will not have any impact on the budget deficit and the main reason for this deficit is in other places; a deficit that, according to Dr. Morteza Afgha, a professor of economics at Shahid Chamran University of Ahvaz, “used to be covered by oil money before the sanctions, but now due to the lack of oil money, these problems have arisen.” (6)

Mehsan Alizadeh, a member of parliament, also responded to a question about the sources of cash subsidies by saying that he does not know, but then continued: “These funds are provided from the savings of currency and the difference between its rate and the free market rate.”

I don’t know.

Mohsen Ali-Zadeh, a representative of the parliament and a member of the Economic Commission of the Eleventh Parliament of the Islamic Council, is a holder of a PhD in economics according to the announcement of the website of the Parliament Research Center. He was asked about the sources of cash subsidies, but he said he was not aware and his explanation had been mentioned before. In response to a question about whether the parliament oversees these resources to prevent inflation caused by the government borrowing from the central bank, he also said he was not informed. However, the question here is, if he, who has a degree in economics and is a member of the Economic Commission of the Parliament, is not informed, then who exactly is informed?

On the fourth day of the current month of Khordad, the newspaper Etemad published an article titled “The Government’s Hand in the Banks’ Pockets” quoting Vahid Shakaghi Shahraki, an economist and the head of the Economics Faculty at Kharazmi University, who wrote that the resources for these paid subsidies are provided through borrowing from banks and also “the source of the difference in the exchange rate of 21,000 tomans (the Nima rate and the preferred dollar rate)”; a claim that was later denied by the Central Bank (7). However, questions still remain as to where the main source of funding for these paid subsidies is ultimately coming from.

Kaleberg, increase in liquidity and inflation.

It is said that the new cash subsidies are only for short-term payments. The monthly magazine “Peace Line” asked Mohsen Ali Zadeh what will happen afterwards and whether there is a specific plan for medium and long-term or not. In response to this question, Ali Zadeh told “Peace Line” that this is the government’s claim. According to this representative of the parliament, “until the government obtains the electronic card, the subsidies are supposed to be paid in cash.”

But there was another question raised; whether the return of the cash subsidy and Calaberg would lead to an increase in liquidity and inflation in society? A member of the Economic Commission of the Parliament responded that “the government is definitely seeking to control inflation and increase liquidity through the implementation of this plan. In fact, if this money is paid in cash, there is concern about inflation and increased liquidity, but if it is in the form of Calaberg, this concern is much less.”

Prior to the promise of Badri, a representative of the parliament was said; he explicitly declared that “the government has no plan to control inflation.” (2) The issue is completely clear and unfortunately predicting what will happen to the low-income groups of society is not difficult.

Sudden cuts and the representative gentleman on the road.

We had not yet reached the final question when the call was disconnected. The last question was whether this member of the Economic Commission of Parliament believes that this plan will truly save the country’s economy, as Hossein Rajaei, the representative of Lenjan in Parliament, has raised. (8) But apparently Mr. Alizadeh was no longer willing to answer. They said they were on the road and to let it be for later. Later, they repeated several times whether their voice could be heard or not, even though the sound was clear. Then the line was no longer able to connect with Mr. Mohsen Alizadeh, the representative and member of the Economic Commission of Parliament, to finish the conversation.

Conversation with Mr. Mohsen Alizadeh, an economics graduate and member of the Economic Commission of the Parliament, was brief, but an effort was made to address the questions and concerns raised about the plan known as “Popularization and Fair Distribution of Subsidies” and to obtain answers. It was mentioned that this plan is a general policy and everyone should implement and comply with it, and that in the near future we should expect the return of the ration card, this time in electronic form. The plan is currently being implemented. We must wait and see what impact this plan and others like it will have on the vulnerable and low-income segments of Iranian society. We must wait and see.

Notes:

1- Member of the Social Commission of the Parliament: We must endure the difficulties of popularizing subsidies, Mehr News Agency, 18 Khordad 1401.

2- Sadif Badri, representative of the parliament: On the pretext of popularizing subsidies, prices increase hourly, Etemad Online, 29 Khordad 1401.

3- In memory of Freyburz Raeesdana; leftist intellectual and critic of the political economy of the Islamic Republic, Independent Farsi, Meysam Badamchi, 13 Farvardin 1400.

4- Half of the smugglers are graduates or higher/ Smugglers are killed at the border; they do smuggling because of their livelihood problems, Alfabakhabar, 22 Ordibehesht 1401.

5- The sword of cash subsidies, on one side eliminates rent, on the other side increases inflation, budget deficit, ILNA news agency, 21 Ordibehesht 1401.

6- An economist: Targeting subsidies is very difficult, IRNA news agency, 25 Ordibehesht 1401.

7- Where does the payment source for the 300,000 toman cash subsidy come from?, Rokhdad News, 19 Khordad 1401.

8- Fair distribution of subsidies saves the country’s economy, Fars News Agency, 22 Khordad 1401.

Created By: Ali Kalaei
June 22, 2022

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