Ten million Iranians under "absolute poverty line"

jobless protests in Khoramshahr interrupting Ahmadinejad speech on May 24

Iran’s Department of Statistics announced that 10 million Iranians live under the “Absolute Poverty Line” and 30 million live under the “Relative Poverty Line.”

Adel Azar, head of the Department of Statistics, told ISNA that the budgetary system of Iran has no correspondence with the prevalent scientific systems of budgeting. He added that if the rules of budgeting were observed in this very structure, the government could save at least 30 to 35 percent on its expenses.

The Professor of Tarbiyat Modares University went on to say that the use of the oil revenues in the current expenditure is “an irreparable and vast disaster.” He explained: “Rather than spending the revenues from oil, which is an inter-generational asset, on increasing quality of life, manufacturing and assets, the revenues are used for current government expenses.”

He also indicated that the government’s annual budgets for construction projects ignore issues of productivity and efficiency which could save the government 45 percent in expenses.

In conjunction to this report, Issa Kamali, secretary General of House of Workers told ILNA that in the past year 52 thousand workers have lost their jobs in the oil industry in Oslouyeh, in the south of Iran.

He added that of the 60 thousand people employed in this industry in the area, only eight thousand still have a job.

Issa Kamali said: “The oil and gas companies of the Oslouyeh area were so productive that in addition to employing local workforce, they even employed workers from other areas; but currently the area has turned into a useless tumour.” Kamali blamed “wrong government policies” for throwing the region into such a “crisis.”