"The sanctions have created a lot of disturbances for us, but we have overcome those challenges and difficulties, and are making up for what was lacking,” Shamseddin Hosseini said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal .
He added that the US and its allies are underestimating a decade of record-high global energy prices which have left Iran with more than USD 100 billion in foreign-exchange reserves.
The Iranian minister said Iran's trade partners in the Middle East and in Central and East Asia remain resilient, and the sanctions have helped Tehran to develop its own indigenous business.
Hosseini said President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s government has been at the forefront of promoting economic renewal in Iran by implementing the Subsidy Reform Plan.
He added that the plan has allowed Tehran to fund social safety-net projects for the Iranian poor, saying the country saved USD 10 billion last year alone by deregulating the prices of electricity.
The Iranian minister said the country's nuclear program and other scientific advances are crucial for Iran's efforts to modernize its economy and this is why the Islamic Republic is pressing ahead with its nuclear energy program despite Western sanctions.
"The economies of future generations need…new scientific knowledge…. Therefore, bearing that weight today, and enduring the hardship, is much better than not giving the knowledge that the next generation needs," Hosseini concluded.
The Iranian minister of economic affairs and finance says US and European Union sanctions will only harm the financial recovery of the West as any reduction in Iran’s oil exports will result in a hike in global gasoline prices.
News ID 181819
