Mehdi Samii ( fa, مهدی سمیعی; 1918–2010) was an Iranian chartered accountant,

banker A bank is a financial institution that accepts Deposit account, deposits from the public and creates a demand deposit while simultaneously making loans. Lending activities can be directly performed by the bank or indirectly through capital m ...

and

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

. Samii is credited as "one of the chief architects of Iran's rapid economic and Industrial growth in the 1960s", as well as "a midwife of in the creation of the entralbank_[of_Iran.html" ;"title="f_Iran.html" ;"title="entralbank [of Iran">entralbank [of Iran">f_Iran.html" ;"title="entralbank [of Iran">entralbank [of Iran and "more than anyone else responsible" for it. According to Abbas Milani, "the fact that the bank was a relatively independent institution, free from corruption and political interference and unusually efficient", is attributed to his leadership.

Biography

Samii was born in Tehran in 1910. He held office as the

Governor of the Central Bank of Iran Governor of the Central Bank of Iran () is the highest administrative authority of the Central Bank of Iran, making decisions concerning all such current affairs of the bank. Presently, the President of Iran, President appoints the governor upon t ...

(1964–1969; 1970–1971), the head of Plan and Budget Organization of Iran (1969–1971) and Ambassador-at-large (1971–1973). Before that, Samii rejected job offers for ministerial roles twice: Once in 1960 when

Jafar Sharif-Emami Jafar Sharif-Imami ( fa, جعفر شریف‌امامی; 17 June 1912 – 16 June 1998) was an Iranian politician who was prime minister from 1960 to 1961 and again in 1978. He was a cabinet minister, president of the Iranian Senate, president ...

offered him the role of the minister of agriculture and the next in the following year when

Ali Amini Ali Amini ( fa, علی امینی; 12 September 1905–12 December 1992) was an Iranian politician who was the Prime Minister of Iran from 1961 to 1962. He held several cabinet portfolios during the 1950s, and served as a member of parliamen ...

proposed that he become minister of commerce. He was a co-founder of

Iranian Institute of Certified Accountants Iranian Institute of Certified Accountants (IICA) is a national professional accounting body of Iran. It was established at 21 February 1973 as a non-governmental association in Iran. IICA is the largest professional accounting body in Iran in ...

. He died in 2010.

References

External links

* 20th-century Iranian economists Governors of the Central Bank of Iran People's Party (Iran) politicians Iranian bankers Iranian accountants Rastakhiz Party politicians 1918 births 2010 deaths {{Iran-politician-stub