Tehran to issue 20 million more Justice Shares

DUBAI: Iran has said as many as 20 million more people are eligible to receive justice shares, including new eligible groups.
Justice Shares are shares of government-owned companies given free to the six lowest income deciles 15 years ago but  were not allowed to be traded in the stock market until May 2020.
The value of the portfolios of shareholders, which are estimated to be 49 million, has grown nearly ten times, local reports said.
The number of state-owned enterprises that were supposed to be privatized under the justice share program is now 49, valued at $21.8 billion.
But critics say most of them are not currently profit-making and consequently do not pay dividends to the shareholders who were meant to be benefited under the program.
Issued during the rule of former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2006, the Justice Shares were intended to assist economic privatization efforts.