Iran Parliament Committee Oks Bill On Car Imports -
Paper
TEHRAN, December 30, 1998 (Dow Jones Newswires) - A controversial bill
to allow the imports of foreign manufactured automobiles into Iran has
been approved by an Iranian parliament commission, reported the Persian
newspaper Abrar Wednesday.
Opening the protected local assembly-oriented car industry to foreign
competition has produced a lot of debate from both the supporters and opponents
of the move, the newspaper said.
It noted that supporters believe the measure will bring some 2 trillion
rials ($1=IRR3,000) in badly needed income to the government coffers.
It didn't elaborate on this financial aspect of the bill. The bill still
needs the approval of the full parliament to become a law. The bulk of
the Iranian car industry is government-owned, run by the Ministry of Industry.
Proponents of the draft bill also say it aims to help replace locally
manufactured inefficient cars and to break up a monopoly in the industry.
There were some 100,000 cars manufactured so far this year in Iran,
according to the head of the association of spare parts producers, Mohammad-Baqer
Rejal.
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