Traditionally, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei uses his Nowruz speech to produce a slogan for the upcoming year.  In his March 20 speech he presented the following objective for the new Iranian year: “Support production and remove barriers to domestic production.”

In line with this objective, the Ministry of Industry, Mining and Trade conducted a survey of industrialists to identify the existing challenges for Iranian manufacturing companies. As Iran works to boost production, a close look at the actual impediments involved can offer insight on what needs to be addressed to pave the way for the domestic industry to flourish.

Based on the above survey, the top impediments to domestic production are the following: Lack of economic stability, high inflation, lack of financing solutions and loan facilities, external sanctions and the existence of lucrative non-productive sectors in the economy. 

Furthermore, in assessing which institutions and sectors would need to be reformed, the overwhelming majority of respondents pointed to the shortcomings in the banking sector.  Other mentioned fields requiring reforms were taxation laws, social security regulations and other government directives relating to the environment, energy and water, etc.