hat tip-Roberta S.
Ahmadinejad Dismisses Minister as Inflation Soars (Update1)
2008-04-22 11:37 (New York)
Ahmadinejad Dismisses Minister as Inflation Soars (Update1)
2008-04-22 11:37 (New York)
(Adds minister’s comments in fourth paragraph.)
By Ladane Nasseri
April 22 (Bloomberg) — Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad
dismissed his economy minister, who blamed record levels of
inflation on high government spending.
Ahmadinejad named Hossein Samsami as caretaker of the
Ministry of Economy and Finance, replacing Davoud Danesh-Ja’fari,
according to the official Islamic Republic News Agency, citing a
presidential decree.
“Can we expect the central bank to change up to 60 billion
petrodollars into local currency to meet the demands of the 2008
budget and it not lead to liquidity growth?” the state-run Mehr
news agency quoted Danesh-Ja’fari as asking at the hand-over
ceremony. “Inflation is the result of this policy and one cannot
run away from this reality.”
Ahmadinejad has come under mounting criticism as inflation
accelerated to a 5-year high of 20.2 percent in February. In a
speech published by Sarmayeh newspaper on April 17, he said prices
were being pushed up by a “mafia” inside the country that was
trying to destabilize his government.
Samsami previously served as secretary of the government’s
economic commission, IRNA reported.
For related news:
Stories on Iranian inflation: {TNI IRAN INF <GO>}
–Editors: Louis Meixler, Balazs Penz.
To contact the reporter on this story:
Ladane Nasseri in Tehran at +98-21-2281-9322 or
[email protected].
To contact the editor responsible for this story:
David Merritt at +44-20-7673-2639 or
[email protected].
