An Analysis of Iran’s Third Five-Year Development Plan in the Post-Revolution Era (2000-2005)

The major objective of this paper is to provide a succinct and critical review of Iran’s Third Five-Year Development Plan (2000/01-2004/05, fiscal year ending March 20). After highlighting the salient features of the Iranian economy and a brief explanation of the previous two development plans, this paper discusses the extent to which the specified macroeconomic objectives of the third plan are achievable. It is argued that there are a number of practical inconsistencies and structural problems in this plan like its predecessors that stifle the long-run economic development. More specifically the constitution, which is beyond the government control, should be appropriately amended to allow the badly needed structural reforms in the Iranian economy prior to launching any development plan.