Abdul Hossein Rouh-al-Amini, a member of the Planning and Budget Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, has commented on the administrative stages of bartering part of the shares of Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries with claims in the health sector. According to him, this process is underway and will soon enter the implementation phase.
Details of Debt Settlement
Rouh-al-Amini announced that about ٨٠ trillion tomans of the debt settlement related to the Ministry of Health will be provided from the shares of the Persian Gulf Holding. This refers to the pursuit of repeating a similar mechanism for paying the debts of the health system in the budget for the year ١٤٠٦. A review of clause "C" of note ٤ of the budget law for the year ١٤٠٤ shows that this ٨٠ trillion tomans is designated for settling the debts of universities and medical sciences colleges and health service centers.
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Method of Share Transfer
According to this decree, the government is obliged to transfer the equivalent of ٨٠ trillion tomans of shares through the Privatization Organization and by holding a public auction by the end of Shahrivar ١٤٠٤. This mechanism is aimed at securing financial resources for settling the debts of these entities to natural and legal persons, including pharmaceutical companies. However, the Court of Audit of the country announced in Bahman ١٤٠٤ that only less than ١٠ trillion tomans of these shares have been transferred.
Rouh-al-Amini has also expressed concern about how much of the remaining government commitment will be secured from these shares. The published information regarding the exact amount of shares and the identity of the transferring and final receiving shareholders is unclear. Therefore, until the details of the transaction are announced, it is not possible to conclude about the impact of this transfer on the ownership and management structure of the Persian Gulf Holding.
Consequences of Share Transfer
The Persian Gulf Petrochemical Industries is one of the largest petrochemical holdings in the Middle East and plays a key role in non-oil exports and the development of the value chain of Iran's petrochemical industry. Therefore, using shares of such an entity to settle government debts must be done with complete transparency and consideration of its consequences.
Ultimately, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance is required to provide a detailed report of the transferred shares to the relevant commissions of the parliament. This action can help clarify the dimensions of this case and ensure that the transfer of shares will not become a tool for settling government debts.
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