TEHRAN, Iran — Late last month, the Management and Planning Organization (MPO) of Iran drafted the country’s sixth five-year strategic development plan. In the plan, the MPO urges the administration of President Hassan Rouhani to dissolve the Organization for the Protection of Consumers and Producers (OPCP), which critics say disrupts markets by intervening in pricing mechanisms. If the proposed action on this matter is passed by the parliament, the Rouhani administration will have one year to dissolve the controversial OPCP, which is affiliated with the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Trade.
MPO’s announcement came after Abbas Akhoundi, minister of roads and urban development, engaged in harsh criticism of OPCP executives who recently annulled his ministry’s decision to increase the prices of train tickets. Akhoundi slammed those seeking to artificially suppress prices as “socialists” and “Marxists” whose performance in recent decades has caused “monopolistic” groups to take shape in the country.
