Special-

On the first anniversary of his assumption of power, I witnessed the efforts of Iranian President Ibrahim Raisi to advance the national economy, form strategic alliances with eastern powers, and strengthen relations with neighboring countries;

Mixed results in Iran.

President Raisi took office on August 23, 2021, with promises to eradicate poverty, improve lives, contain inflation, boost the national economy, and neutralize US sanctions.

But a segment of economic experts in Iran believes that his government has achieved relative success in its first year, in addition to failures that cannot be overlooked.

Saif Allah believes that Raisi's government has achieved relative success in its first year (Al-Jazeera)

relative success

The editor-in-chief of economic affairs at the Iranian Mehr Agency, Mohammad Hossein Seifollah, believes that Raisi's government has achieved relative success in its first year, despite the negative publicity and continuous media attacks on it.

The Iranian researcher confirmed - to Al-Jazeera Net - that, except for the promises to build one million housing units each year, and not to contain the rise in the price of hard currency, most of Raei's promises in his election campaign have been relatively achieved so far.

According to Saifullah, his country's government succeeded in consolidating its relations with both China and Russia, and concluded strategic treaties with them last year. It was also able to activate international corridors, release large amounts of Iranian funds frozen abroad, and circumvent US sanctions.

The economic expert explained that his country's foreign trade witnessed a rise last year, along with a rise in its oil exports, describing the government's decision to withhold official support for basic commodities and provide it to needy segments as a giant step in order to rationalize government support, which caused the waste of huge funds for more than a decade. from time.

With his appreciation, the Iranian people began to feel that their lives had improved, and that the results of improving their country's foreign trade would reflect positively on their lives after months.

But he added, however, that the government failed to fulfill some of its promises, attributing this to US sanctions and the repercussions of the Russian-Ukrainian war on the global economy.


improve foreign trade

Regarding the volume and value of Iran's foreign trade last year, we asked the spokesman of the Iranian Customs Organization, Ruhollah Latifi, who replied that foreign trade amounted to 151 million and 500 thousand tons, worth 101 billion and 820 million dollars, since President Ibrahim Raisi took office last year.

Latifi explained - to Al Jazeera Net - that non-oil exports increased during 11 months by 4% in volume and 31% in value, compared to the same period last year, while imports recorded an increase of 18% in volume and 34% in value.

The main reason behind the rise in Iranian imports in the era of Raisi - in Latifi's opinion - is due to the government's intention to carry out a comprehensive vaccination campaign to eliminate the Corona pandemic, and its keenness to provide basic commodities in light of international crises, especially the food crisis resulting from the Russian war on Ukraine.

The Iranian official concluded by saying that the current government, through the activation of international corridors, managed in the past 11 months to transport 12 million and 875 thousand tons of foreign goods through Iranian territory, registering an increase of 58 percent compared to the same period of the last year of the previous government.

Akindeh believes that Raisi's government has failed to fulfill the promises it made during the election campaigns (Al-Jazeera)

failures

On the other hand, a group of Iranian experts and observers say that their country's current government has failed to fulfill the promises it made on the economic and foreign policy levels.

In this context, the academic expert in political economy, Youssef Akandeh, accuses the supporters of Raisi’s government of exploiting the attack on the nuclear agreement to gain power, explaining that they were unable to lift the US sanctions or nullify their effect, despite returning to the negotiating table that they have long criticized and obstructed the efforts of the previous government to revive nuclear deal.

Akandeh explained - to Al Jazeera Net - that despite the government's propaganda through its media networks regarding its performance in the past year, "what we see on the ground is completely different from the fabricated statistics on improving citizens' lives."

He added that the government's failure to fulfill some of its promises, including the construction of one million housing units each year, led to the addition of new crises to the previous living crisis;

Housing prices have doubled in the past months.

Akandeh stressed that despite promises to contain inflation, the removal of government subsidies from the prices of basic commodities made matters worse, undermined the value of the national currency, and contributed to the collapse of the stock market index last year.

The Iranian researcher believed that Raisi's government had failed in its foreign policy;

It was unable to restore its relations with neighboring Arab countries because it was linked to the fate of tension with the West over the nuclear file. He also downplayed the importance of treaties with China and Russia because they did not reflect positively on the livelihood of the Iranian citizen.

Akandeh concluded that the reason for the failures of the main government is due to its reliance on a number of ministers who lack practical experience in managing the country, explaining that some ministerial portfolios were imposed on him within the framework of quotas for the parties and currents that supported him in the presidential elections.