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Ahmadinejad:North Korean wannabe
As tension builds up between the Islamic Republic of Iran and the international community, a potentially more significant conflict is taking shape within the ruling establishment in Tehran.The conflict is centered on what looks like a looming economic crisis. Inflation has risen to 17 percent, its highest rate since the 1970s. A cascade of business closures has pushed unemployment, already high even by Third World standards, to its highest level in three decades. The value of the national currency, the rial, has dropped against regional and global currencies, and remains on the slide. According to official estimates, including some offered by Ayatollah Shahroudi, the Islamic chief justice, the flight of capital from Iran has turned into a flood. In Iran, as in most other Third World economies, the absence of modern investment opportunities gives real estate a leading role in attracting savings at all levels. As soon as an Iranian has some extra income, he tries to buy a piece of land or an apartment. As a result, real estate has been a key measure of Irans economic performance. By that measure, the Iranian economy is heading for meltdown. The money that would have been invested in real estate inside Iran now goes to Dubai and Turkey. In recent months, Iraq has also become a magnet for Iranian investors, generating a boom in the Shiite holy cities of Najaf and Karbala. A few companies also offer investment opportunities in real estate in Syria, Romania and Bulgaria. Posted by: Glomorong Thavick1009 2007-01-20 |
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