Rouhani says saved Iran from oil countries’ afflictions
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has said his administration saved the country from many economic afflictions that oil producing countries around the world suffered in the past couple of years.
Speaking to people in the northwestern city of Qazvin as part of an official provincial trip, Rouhani vowed that Iran’s economic growth rate will surpass 5 percent by the end of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 20).
“Look what happened to all the oil producing countries in the meantime, what happened to oil prices. In Venezuela inflation hit 485 percent… In recent days Saudi Arabia cut down on the salaries of all government employees for economic conditions and severe downfall of oil prices,” he said.
“Saudi Arabia also suffered a $100-billion deficit and had to draw money from funds… This is while we did not touch our fund, but on the contrary deposited 20 percent of our revenues in it.”
The Iranian president went on to highlight the national currency depreciation that many countries suffered in the past year.
Rouhani took office in 2013 when Iran’s economic inflation was above 40 percent. The most recent governmental report in September said economic inflation had reached 8.8 percent.
During Rouhani’s tenancy, global oil prices went down from about $100 to $40.
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