opendemocracy:

A closer look at Rouhani’s economic achievements, however, shows that his administration has had little success in this area and has disappointed many segments of Iranian society. Since the day he took office, Rouhani and his government have, with some justification, laid all blame at the door of his hardliner predecessor, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, asserting time and again that what they took over from the previous administration was a country on the brink of ruination.

But the fact remains that the economic climate is still more than unfavourable. A recent report by the Tehran Chamber of Commerce, based on Ministry of Roads and Urban Development figures, puts the percentage of Iranians below the relative poverty line at a staggering 33%, which is more than 14% up from 2007. A study by the BBC’s Persian service shows that the average spending of the Iranian household has fallen by 15% in real terms between 2007 and 2016. Economist Djavad Salehi-Isfahani has calculated that during Rouhani’s first two years in office real per capita expenditure has declined for all but the top decile of the Iranians. And there is no sign that the growing tide of inequality is going to reverse course either. Unemployment has risen by around 2 percentage points since Rouhani took office, and the rate is even higher among the yout

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