Addressing the livelihood of the people is among the main duties of any government. But the Pahlavi despotic regime had forgotten this duty. Lack of planning, excessive dependence on foreign governments, spread of immorality in society, wrong economic policies, overindulgence of the royal family and courtiers in profligate and extravagant lifestyle without paying attention to the culture of the people caused a nationwide revolution which demanded the ouster of the Shah and his regime.
Immediately after the victory of the Islamic Revolution, the officials decided to embark on solving economic problems and improve people's livelihood. But the plots began against the Islamic Republic in the form of riots and sectarian clashes in various parts of the country, provocation of counter-revolutionary elements and finally the 8-year war imposed by the US through its agent, Saddam. However, the devoted forces didn't stop reconstruction of the damages left from the previous regime and, especially after the war, they rushed to rebuild all ruins of the Shah's regime and Saddam's war.
According to the statistics of the World Bank, Iran's economy stood at the 18th rank in 2017 despite all sanctions and pressures. Besides, the rate of GDP has more than doubled compared with the pre-revolution period and reached 540 billion dollars. The Islamic Republic has concentrated its efforts on eradication of poverty and helping the deprived people so that poverty has decreased to 1/8 of the pre-revolution period. According to the report of Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the UN, the hunger index has dropped from 18.5 in 1990 to 6.8 in 2015.
Industry is one of the sections that have grown rapidly during recent years. Before the Islamic Revolution, efforts were made for industrial progress in Iran which were fruitless due to intensive dependence and erroneous orientations. Furthermore, these efforts inflicted colossal damages in the agricultural section. After the Islamic Revolution, with the exit of foreigners, the Iranian officials succeeded to plan and put into practice programs for development of industry and reduction of dependence in this field. Consequently, the share of industry has increased from 16% to 40% in the GDP rate and its value added has reached 70 billion dollars which is 7 times more than the Pahlavi regime. This boom in products is the outcome of activity of nearly 100 thousand industrial centers, while before the Revolution these centers were one tenth of this number in the country.
Steel industry is very important and strategic among other industrial achievements of the Islamic Republic as it has a lot of consumptions. According to the World Steel Association, the Islamic Republic ranked 14 in the world with production of 21.7 million tons of steel in 2017. A huge part of this product is exported. It is noteworthy that the rate of steel production was 500 thousand tons before the revolution.
Aluminum is another metal which has a lot of consumptions due to solidity, lightness and durability. With a production of more than 400 thousand tons per year, Iran is the 14th country in the world and it is going to boost aluminum production by opening new projects.
The Islamic Republic of Iran has attained good achievements in cement production. Iran is one of the major manufacturers and exporters of cement and in 2016 ranked third in the world. During the Pahlavi period, only 6 million tons of this product were made while the figure has increased nearly 10 times.
Other construction materials that are produced immensely in Iran are ceramic and tile. Iran's ceramic and tile production has reached 340 million cubic meters per year which means the 8thposition in the world.
As for automobile industry, the Islamic Republic ranks 16 with manufacturing more than 1.5 million cars and exports the surplus to different countries.
The Islamic Republic with enormous fossil fuel reserves, has the 4th rank in oil and 1st rank in gas reserves. Therefore, oil and gas is the largest industry in Iran. After the victory of the Islamic Revolution, a big number of foreign experts left the country and Iranian technicians took the control of oil installations to keep them working even during the military attacks of Saddam's regime. Although Iran exports a considerable quantity of its oil, the policy of the Islamic Republic is not focused on export of crude oil. During the past 40 years, many efforts have been made to make products of crude and export them. That's why refineries make products like gasoline, gasoil, liquefied gas, mazut, and so on. In spite of US illegal sanctions and pressures, Iranian experts have made their best so that the Islamic Republic attained self-sufficiency in gasoline production as its daily production has reached 90 million liters and this number will increase to 100 million liters in near future.
Petrochemicals is another important industry which turns crude oil and gas to valuable and more applicable substances such as plastic, polymer, artificial wool and cotton and a plethora of other products. Petrochemical products were 3 million tons per annum while this figure has reached 60 million tons, half of which is exported. The rate of petrochemical exports amounts to 47 billion dollars per year.
Gas is another strategic industry in Iran. The Islamic Republic of Iran possesses 18% of the gas reserves which is the first in the world. Hence, it has invested immensely on gas industry and extracts 800 million cubic meters of gas per day. The largest gas field in the world is South Pars Field which Iran jointly possesses with Qatar. This huge field has half of Iran's gas and 8% of the total gas in the world. It is considered Iran's gas pole.
Gas condensates are other products which are obtained from gas fields and transformed into gasoline, gasoil, kerosene and so on at refineries. The rate of Iran's condensate export has amounted to 30 thousand billion dollars per year. One of the important uses of gas in Iran is for maintenance of fuel for nearly 30 power plants. Today, many factories are also consuming gas due to its being economical. Natural gas is exported to some neighboring countries and there are programs for exporting it to other countries.
During the Pahlavi regime, only 51 thousand houses and buildings could use gas in 9 cities. But, after the Islamic Revolution, gas pipes have been laid for more than 14 million households. Thus, 93% of the population have been covered by gas grid. Therefore, people can conveniently consume this cheap fuel at home and in their cars.
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