In connection with Nowruz, the Washington Post discusses the Iranian economy in the last year in an article titled "As Iranian New Year looms, economy continues to struggle".
"Despite some progress toward a lasting nuclear deal that could potentially end years of crushing sanctions, fiscal growth has been slow, and many here worry that the incoming year — 1393 on the Iranian calendar — will bring even leaner times... While currency rates have stabilized at more than 10 percent above where they were when Rouhani was elected in June, little has changed for most Iranians, who are struggling to make ends meet", writes the Washington Post.
The difficult economic situation has prompted Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to ask Iranians to embrace what he calls a “resistance economy,” which means more reliance on domestic production and less rampant consumption of imports.
“We are accustomed to an increase in utility prices each year, but now they are talking about increasing gasoline by 30 percent while the government has only promised to give our salary a 20 percent increase. All in all, I am not hopeful,” the Washington Post quotes Masoud Mirahmadian, a 33-year-old government office worker.
