Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug.12/ Trend F.Karimov/
The presence of armed forces in economic activities in Iran rose by 5-10 times during the presidency of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the economic expert Saeed Lailaz said.
The involvement of the armed forces in economic activities has led to the elimination of the private sector and degeneration of the national economic system, the Persian language Jahan-e Sanat newspaper wrote in its Monday issue.
This involvement incurred irreparable losses to the national economic system and decreased productivity and economic growth, the newspaper said.
Another economic expert, Ali Qanbari, told the Jahan-e Sanat that the armed forces should be seriously prevented from economic activities. A part of the current economic problems is due to the presence of the armed forces in the economy sector, he added.
The academician, Mehdi Taqavi, said that the economy is a specialized field and military men should not get involved in economy as they do not allow non-military persons to get involved in military issues.
On August 8, the Chief of the General Staff of Iran's Armed Forces, General Seyyed Hassan Firouzabadi said Iran's Armed Forces are ready to withdraw from economic activities, Bahar newspaper reported.
He also said that the armed forces have not entered economy activities to earn income and are not competitors for domestic producers, adding that, "they offer their resources to the government in such cases as the lack of executive facilities, contractor or when implementation by domestic forces is not economic."
During administration of ex-president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (2005-2013), security and military organizations, particularly the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), and the semi-state companies affiliated with them have gained a big share of the privatized assets.