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Iran experts criticise ban on foreign goods

January 23, 2019 at 11:04 am

A merchant waits in his shop for customers to arrive and buy his carpets Iran, 21 November 2018 [Fatemeh Bahrami/Anadolu Agency]

Iranian economic experts have criticised parliament’s ban on importing foreign goods which can be bought locally, the Anadolu Agency reported yesterday.

Resorting to social media to express their discontent, the experts said that the ban would not benefit the domestic markets and will not have a positive impact on local production.

Meanwhile, the head of Iranian Chamber of Commerce Hussein Waziri said that the ban “will never contribute to increasing local production, but will increase the phenomenon of tax evasion and corruption.”

Simac Qasimi, of the Iranian Institute for Economic Research, said: “This ban is a violation of the rules of competition.”

On Sunday, the Iranian parliament approved a decision that imposes a ban on importing goods which have domestic equivalences.

The decision was taken in an effort to boast local production and will remain in place until 21 March 2021.

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