Iran President Rouhani targets stagflation in first budget | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT

Iran President Rouhani targets stagflation in first budget | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT:

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Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani delivering his speech to
parliament before presenting the proposed annual budget to
Parliament on December 8, 2013. (AFP PHOTO/HO/IRANIAN PRESIDENCY)

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani presented his first budget to parliament on Sunday, vowing to bring down inflation and boost growth to lift an economy reeling from sanctions and what he says was mismanagement by predecessor Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Inflation has soared for two years and productivity has slumped as ever tougher economic sanctions imposed to counter Tehran’s nuclear program have taken their toll.

Rouhani says Ahmadinejad squandered vast oil revenues on cash handouts and housing projects during his two terms in office from 2005 and racked up enormous government debt.

Gross domestic product had contracted by 6 percent over the past year, Rouhani told lawmakers, while inflation was running at 44 percent when he took office in August, a situation he described as “very worrying.”"

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