TEHRAN, Nov. 23--Senior experts from the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance will meet on November 27 to draw up a draft bill that would lead to the creation of an independent central bank, a lawmaker declared here on Tuesday.
Hassan Noimoqaddam, a member of the Majlis Presiding Board, told ISNA that the draft bill is expected to be finalized by December 20.
"The bill aims chiefly at keeping the government from issuing banknotes without reserves," he said, adding that according to this bill, the government will not be authorized to borrow from the CBI when faced with budget deficits.
The lawmaker further noted that the move to make central bank independent would help bring inflation under control.
The central bank is directed by the government to offset its budget deficit in the second half of each year--a move that aggravates liquidity growth and the inflation rate.
CBI independence is a key economic issue on which senior officials of the Islamic establishment have not yet reached a consensus.
This is while a dynamic and modern economy would not be achieved without an independent central bank.
Experts believe that there are certain interferences in the affairs of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI), stressing the need for the CBI to play an independent role.
The bank does not have the required authority to carry out its obligations.
Some government officials contend that the Khatami administration has given priority to efforts that would make the CBI sovereign. The lawmakers have also come to the conclusion that the CBI is in need of more authority to effectively carry out its responsibilities.
However observers believe the country is unlikely to have an independent central bank in the short-run while initial steps could be taken to this effect under the present circumstances.
The Central Bank of Iran is currently responsible chiefly for protecting the value of national currency, controlling liquidity and taming inflation.

Iran exported some 68.2 tons of saffron worth $37.726 million during March-September.

MASHHAD,
Khorasan Razavi, Nov. 23--An agricultural official in the northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi said here on Tuesday that investment in the saffron industry could bring in more foreign exchange revenues than automotive industry does.
Ali Fereydooni, who heads Khorasan Agriculture Jihad Department, told ISNA that the government is required to help promote saffron industry by upgrading packaging systems.
"Saffron is priced less than three million rials per kilo in Iran and more than 12 million rials per kilo on the international markets," he said, adding that the government has in recent years allocated at least five billion rials for constructing 15 saffron processing units.
Iran's saffron production is expected to decline by 60 tons to reach 100 tons in the current year due to drought in saffron producing regions and record low prices of the product on the domestic market.
While the final cost for producing each kilo of saffron is estimated at 2.2 million rials, the product now sells for 2.07 million rials, turning the once lucrative industry into an uneconomical business.
Each kilo of saffron used to sell for more than 3.5 million rials in 1999, whereas the price has averaged below 2.7 million rials in the past two years.
While saffron plant does not need much water, severe drought that has hit the southern parts of Khorasan province, which is the largest producer in Iran and the world, in the past years have reduced the productivity of saffron farms from the average five kilograms per hectare to three.
Modern irrigation systems failed to increase the yield to 20 kilogram per hectare.
Iran exported some 68.2 tons of saffron worth $37.726 million during March-September.

India will insist on a price lower than $2.53 per mBtu of LNG.

TEHRAN, Nov. 23--A senior Oil Ministry official said here on Tuesday that a high- ranking Indian delegation is here to follow up the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the world's second most populous nation.
Hadi Nejad-Hosseinian, deputy oil minister for international affairs, stressed that under the preliminary agreement, which he said was reached between the two sides one and a half years ago, India would be given a stake or responsibility in the project to develop an Iranian oilfield, if it purchases five million tons of liquefied natural gas per annum from the Islamic state for a 25-year period.
He said negotiations are underway with the Indian side on the price, expressing hope that the matters would be almost finalized at the end of the Tehran talks.
"Indians are willing to purchase LNG from Iran on the conditions laid down in their contract with Qatar under which the price of gas should remain unchanged in the first five years of the contract," he said, stressing that Iran does not accept such conditions.
Nejad-Hosseinian said the Iranian negotiating team will try its best to safeguard long-term national interests.
"While we will employ utmost preciseness and bargaining abilities to set a higher price for our gas exports, we are also trying to expand our presence in international LNG markets," he added.
Indian Petroleum Secretary S.C. Tripathi is leading the delegation which arrived here on Tuesday to negotiate the price of LNG.
According to Indian sources, Iran has offered to sell five million tons per annum of LNG at $2.57 per million British thermal unit (mBtu) but New Delhi is not willing to pay more than $2.40 per mBtu.
Iran has agreed to give ONGC Videsh Ltd. of India, on nomination basis a 20-percent stake in Yadavaran oilfield, which is said to have a potential to produce 300,000 barrels per day, after an operator, most likely a Chinese firm, is selected through international bidding.
Sources said India will insist on a price lower than $2.53 per mBtu which New Delhi is currently paying Qatar for importing similar quantities of LNG.

TEHRAN, Nov. 23--A leading economic expert said here on Tuesday that the country has missed numerous opportunities in relation to its accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Massoud Nili, a distinguished professor at the prestigious Sharif Industrial University, told Fars news agency that the national economy has done little to prepare for WTO entry.
"We have always wasted time on the pretext of not yet being prepared for WTO membership," he said, adding that once the country joins the World Trade Organization, the national economy will have to make full use of all opportunities.
He further said that the national production sector is already exposed to unfair competition with the bulk of high-quality low-priced goods smuggled into the country, stressing that real competition would help improve the national industries.
Iran's 19th membership application--which was said to be supported by the European Union, China, Egypt, South Africa, Venezuela and India--was rejected recently due to strong opposition from the United States.
The Uruguayan head of the group has reportedly expressed hope the G15 would manage to soften the hostile US stance on Iran's WTO entry by mid-December, when Tehran will submit its 20th request.
In addition to US opposition, experts believe the national economy is not yet ready for the initiative.

TEHRAN, Nov. 23--Defying repeated calls by economic experts and officials to lift restrictions on gold exports, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) insisted that the ban will continue to be enforced, press reported here.
The mass circulation Persian economic daily Abrar-e Eqtesadi quoted a CBI report as saying that no one would be able to export gold products without prior permission from the central bank.
"Under a 1991 bylaw regulating export, import and trade of gold, silver and platinum, exporters of gold products will have to obtain a permit from the CBI," it stressed, indicating that the Central Bank of Iran would not allow free export of gold products.
A senior Ministry of Industries and Mines official said recently the continued restrictions on gold exports are illegal, stressing that the export of all kinds of goods is permitted under the governing laws.
Ahmad Qasemi, the ministry's director general for export affairs, told Fars news agency that subsidized goods are the only commodities that cannot be exported, adding that the government has not paid any subsidies on gold.
He criticized Central Bank of Iran (CBI) and Iran's Customs Administration for impeding gold exports, saying some organizations and ministries have violated the law.
Article 114 of the Third Plan (March 2000-2005) has liberalized the export of all goods and services, including gold and products made from it. Experts say under the law, there is no difference between the export of gold and iron ore.
In another development, a local zinc mine exploration project in the northwestern province of Zanjan has, for the first time, led to the discovery of gold reserves in the area, a mining industry official said here on Tuesday.
Houshang Adhami, deputy head of Zinc Mines Development Company, told ILNA that gold reserves were found in an area in Zanjan, which was primarily believed to contain zinc and lead deposits.
"We cannot now say for sure that these mines contain lead and zinc, but we are quite sure that we have found gold reserves," he added.

The government is expected to face a 50-trillion-rial budget deficit in the current fiscal year.

TEHRAN, Nov. 23--A senior lawmaker said here on Tuesday that the government would face a 50-trillion-rial budget deficit in the current fiscal year due to its failure to cut unnecessary expenditures.
According to Fars news agency, Davood Danesh-Jafari, head of the Majlis Economic Commission, told the weekly meeting of the Society of Islamic Associations of Tehran's Grand Bazaar and Trade Guilds, that had the government been frugal on its expenditures, it would not have faced a budget deficit.
"A country like Turkey has managed to reduce inflation from 105 percent to a single-digit rate mainly by cutting state expenses," he said, adding that most state organizations in Iran do not pay attention to calls for economizing.
The lawmaker further noted that a decline in the government's expenses would help reduce the highflying inflation rate.
He also called on the national banking system to slash profit rates to help improve production sector.
"When bank profit rates are high, production costs and prices of goods will also soar," he said, adding that high production costs have decreased the national production sector's competitiveness at the regional and the international levels.
"As long as the production sector remains sluggish, the job market will not improve," he observed.

MADRID, Spain, Nov. 23--The First Iran-Cuba Economic Conference was held in the Cuban capital, Havana on Monday, reported IRNA.
A delegation from the Iranian private sector and Cuban businessmen and industrialists attended the conference, the Iranian embassy in Havana announced on Tuesday.
Speaking at the gathering, the president of Iran's Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines Ali Naqi Khamoushi described the trend of commercial ties between the Islamic Republic of Iran and Republic of Cuba as 'good'.
Highlighting Iran's industrial and economic achievements since the victory of the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Khamoushi presented a brief report on Iran's industrial and production capabilities.
He pointed to the facilities provided by Iranian and Cuban banks and said that each side has been made familiar with investment opportunities in each other's country.
These facilities could pave the way for bolstering commercial and economic ties, he said.
Officials from Iran's Chamber of Commerce and Cuban Foreign Investment and Economic Cooperation Ministry also discussed investment and trade cooperation between the two countries.
The Cuban officials expressed their gratitude for efforts of Iranian officials to boost bilateral economic ties. They said they were optimistic of the future of relations between the two countries. Increasing commercial exchanges with Iran is top on the agenda of the Cuban government, the officials stressed.

TEHRAN, Nov. 23--Suspending imports from or exports to certain countries in retaliation for their diplomatic problems with the Islamic Republic would only add to the already numerous challenges facing the domestic production sector and further weaken the lethargic national economy, observed a senior economic official here on Tuesday.
Mohammad Reza Behzadian, who heads Tehran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines, told Mowj news agency that the country's foreign policy apparatus has made a scapegoat of the private sector for the sake of diplomacy, stressing that all other countries regulate international relations on the basis of their economic interest.
The official further stated that Iran is in pressing need of greater international economic interaction.
"The government must not implicate the private sector in its international political equations," he said, adding that the government should facilitate the country's foreign trade.
Behzadian said chambers of commerce should not necessarily follow foreign policy patterns in their overseas economic interactions. "For instance, since there is no dealings between the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines and its counterparts in North America, Iranian businesses cannot export to or import certain goods from that region," he noted.
Behzadian said earlier this month private companies will continue economic interaction with US partners irrespective of decisions made by Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries and Mines (ICCIM) to the effect.
He told ISNA that the ICCIM is not planning to conduct business with companies other than those from Europe and Arab countries, stressing that the private sector will not wait for a new decision by the chamber.
"Interaction with other countries is the legitimate right of private enterprises," he said, adding that if the ICCIM sends an official economic team to the United States, the move would certainly produce concrete results.