Central bank chief no-show on radio programme
TEHRAN, Sept 1 (AFP) - The governor of Iran 's central bank came under
fire Wednesday after failing to appear for a live radio programme to take
questions from listeners about the nation's ailing economy.
Mohsen Nurbakhsh had been scheduled to appear on the morning "My
Nation" programme to discuss Iran 's financial woes and, when he
failed to appear, angry listeners phoned in anyway to denounce the state
of the nation's economy.
Iran 's hard-hit economy has been wracked by spiraling inflation, chronic
unemployment, and the plummet of the Iranian rial against the US dollar.
President Mohammad Khatami outlined a new five-year economic plan last
month to address the problems, particularly Iran 's dependence on oil
revenues.
Fluctuations on the worldwide crude market left Iran with a budget shortfall
of some six billion dollars in the last Iranian year, which ended in
mid-March.
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