Mr. Mohammad Bagher Nowbakht who appeared in his first press conference after New Year's holidays, said that government had repaid $ 3.6bn of its debts to domestic banks and it had added $ 6.4bn to its reserves in the banks in the fiscal year ending March 21 2017; "government had been working on a plan to hit the upcoming wave of the unemployment in the new fiscal year, to which all government bodies and organizations should contribute in good faith," he told the press.
Nowbakht also touched a subject matter frequently occupying the minds of the government officials as well as of its critics, the JCPOA and possible contribution of the deal on Leader-designated Resistance Economy as an alternative to foreign economic plans to resuscitate the hard-hit and moribund economy; "JCPOA helped unfreezing of our assets in foreign banks; so far, $ 11.5bn of foreign investment had been made in the country since the deal and it will be a matter of time to see the boons of such investments to be translated into public welfare and concrete changes in the daily lives of people," he emphasized.
Cabinet spokesperson also was confident that President Hassan Rouhani would welcome debate with any candidate including Mr. Hamid Baghaei, a close associate of Mr. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's and his aid who will be the party's nominee for the presidential elections. Nowbakht reiterated economic figures for the new fiscal year as 7.7 per cent for economic growth and 7.5 per cent for inflation rate.
Asked about Plasco Building Collapse, Nowbakht told reporters that the final report had not been prepared yet. He also rejected speculations that Mr. Is'hagh Jahangiri, first deputy-president, would also register in elections; "the cabinet has a chair and he will register in presidential elections, and no other cabinet member would emulate him," he concluded.
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