Memoirs of Akbar Hashemi – March 21, 1999

After prayers and the ceremony marking the turning of the year, I spent some time listening to the news and viewing reports on the computer screen. In the messages from [Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei], the Leader, and [Mr. Seyyed Mohammad Khatami], the President, they acknowledged the people’s economic difficulties and expressed hope that these problems would be resolved, but no specific course of action or plan was presented. Unfortunately, shopkeepers and transportation operators have also responded to the prospect of higher energy prices and other price increases approved in the 1378 budget, and have inappropriately raised the prices of their goods and services during the Nowruz holidays, making the holiday bitter in this respect. In previous years, new prices were deferred until the second half of Farvardin so that the authorities would have an opportunity to exercise control and the holiday would not be spoiled.

I spent part of the time reading the book Step by Step Toward Meeting God, written by Dr. Abdolhossein Zarrinkoub. It is about the life and thought of Jalal al-Din Mohammad Balkhi, known as Rumi, the author of the Masnavi. It is interesting. Faezeh and her children [Mona and Hassan] had slept here last night. We had breakfast together. I gave the children their New Year’s gifts, one thousand tomans each. Dr. Hamid Lahouti, [Faezeh’s husband], came. He talked about his work and the condition of the factory producing yarn, nylon mesh bags, and sponge. It operates three days a week. Recently, they have begun exporting to Italy, Australia, and Turkmenistan. They purchased [the factory equipment] from abroad through a buyback arrangement. They are supposed to pay for it over four years by delivering half of the output. The raw materials come from domestic petrochemical production. The domestic market is also good. He said that most industries are facing liquidity and foreign-currency problems.

At noon, Mehdi, Faezeh, and the children were here. In the afternoon, we flew toward Kish. En route, Akbar Safarian, [managing director of the Rafsanjan Pistachio Producers and Exporters Cooperative], explained the situation of the cooperative. Exports are good, and with the high foreign-exchange rate, pistachio prices have also risen. During the flight, I read the introduction to my 1360 memoirs [Crossing the Crisis], which is being prepared for publication. At Kish Airport, Mr. [Hamid] Mirzadeh and Mr. [Mohammadreza] Yazdanpanah, [managing director of the Kish Free Zone], had come to welcome us. In the evening and afternoon, I walked along the seashore. The weather is good. This year, there has been little rain in the province [Hormozgan], but the island is green. At night, I read the reports from the computer, a laptop.