Official: Growth in productivity index is meager

TEHRAN, Iran, December 29, 1999 (IRNA) - Managing director of the productivity organization Mohammad Kazem Ebrahimi-Khoramabadi said here Wednesday that the current situation shows that growth in manpower productivity index is low and productivity index for energy and capital have also had a declining trend in the country over the past 10 years.

He told IRNA that manpower productivity in the last 10 years has been 1.2 percent annually which, compared to other nations which are members of the Asian Productivity Organization (APO), is insignificant.

Ebrahimi-Khoramabadi also said that decline in the energy index shows that problems exists in the efficient use of energy in the country, adding, if energy index is taken to be 100 percent in 1365 (1986-87) 10 years later, it would have slipped to 73 percent.

On causes of low productivity in Iran, he noted, "the problem in our development strategy so far has been, to follow a single approach or view, which aims to create new capacities in the economy."

"We always think that only accumulation of capital, leads to increase in investments and employment which results in higher Gross Domestic Product (GDP)," the official stated.

But, he added the point is to follow a combination of the two approaches of "establishing new capacities" and "boosting productivity in existing capacities".