15 Iranian companies waiting for privatization

The announcement was made by Director for Planning and Development at the Iranian National Petrochemical Company (NPC) Ramezan Owladi who also told the oil ministry's website that implementation of article 44 of the Constitution (which necessitates privatization of many state companies) in the last few years led to rising productivity in the petrochemical sector. Owladi said that privatization and creating a better environment for doing business in the petrochemical industry would lead to economic growth and rising employment during the year which has been named 'National Production, Supporting Iranian Labor and Capital'. The National Petrochemical Company as the leading company in privatization succeeded in privatizing 21.977 million shares of petrochemical companies, worth 90.490 billion rials, through cooperation with Privatization Organization and Bourse in a three year period leading to 2010. He further said that during the first ten months of the last Iranian calendar year, ended in 19th March 2012, more than 555 million shares of the petrochemical companies including Commercial Petrochemical Company, Kavian, Brojen and Mamsani Petrochemical Companies, worth 95 thousand billion rials, were transferred to private sector. According to the official, the NPC will take more steps in privatization process this year through ceding shares of other state owned petrochemical companies to the private sector. He concluded that privatization had created many opportunities for balanced development and growth in the petrochemical sector.