HOPES FOR LIBERALIZATION in Iran are fading fast as the government of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sacks key policymakers, abolishes autonomous sources of power and ratchets up moves towards a more populist economic policy. "It feels like a new Ice Age," says an observer of the Iranian scene who preferred not to be named for fear of falling foul of the new wave of purges. Late in August, Ebrahim Sheibani, a long-serving, widely respected technocrat, resigned from his post as central bank governor. Few doubted that the move was anything other than the removal of another obstacle to the centralization of economic policymaking in the hands of the president’s office, coming as it did shortly after the resignation of the then oil and industry ministers. During the summer the Office of Management and Planning was put under the aegis of the president and the key Monetary and Credit Committee was abolished. ...
