Editing Economy of Iran (section)

=== Religious foundations ===
{{Main|Bonyad|Setad}}

[[Welfare (financial aid)|Welfare]] programs for the needy are managed by more than 30 public agencies alongside semi-state organizations known as ''[[bonyad]]s'', together with several private non-governmental organizations. ''Bonyads'' are a consortium of over 120 tax-exempt organizations that receive subsidies and religious donations. They answer directly to the [[Supreme Leader of Iran]] and control over 20% of GDP.<ref name="RAND1" /><ref>Abrahamian, ''History of Modern Iran'' (p.178). Cambridge University Press (2008), {{ISBN|978-0-521-52891-7}}</ref> Operating everything from vast soybean and cotton farms to hotels, soft drink, automobile manufacturing, and shipping lines, they are seen as overstaffed, corrupt and generally unprofitable.<ref name="Abbas">Abbas Bakhtiar: [http://www.payvand.com/news/07/jan/1295.html#_edn7 "Ahmadinejad's Achilles Heel: The Iranian Economy"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010061417/http://www.payvand.com/news/07/jan/1295.html#_edn7 |date=October 10, 2017 }}. Payvand, January 25, 2007. Retrieved February 12, 2008.</ref>

''Bonyad'' companies compete with Iran's unprotected private sector, whose firms complain of the difficulty of competing with the subsidized ''bonyads''.<ref name="Abbas" /> ''Bonyads'' are not subject to audit or [[Taxation in Iran#Accounting standards|Iran's accounting laws]].<ref>{{Cite web |last = Ilias |first = Shayerah |title = Iran's Economy |website=U.S. Department of State |date = June 2008 |url=https://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/107234.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080725062615/https://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/107234.pdf |archive-date=2008-07-25}}</ref> ''[[Setad]]'' is a multi-sector business organization, with holdings of 37 companies, and an estimated value of $95 billion. It is under the control of the Supreme Leader, [[Ali Khamenei]], and created from [[Construction industry of Iran#History|thousands of properties]] confiscated from [[Iranian peoples|Iranians]].<ref name=Setad>{{cite news |title = Assets of the Ayatollah |work = [[Reuters]] |url = https://www.reuters.com/investigates/iran/ |access-date = December 7, 2013 |date = November 11, 2013 |first1 = Steve |last1 = Stecklow |first2 = Babak |last2 = Dehghanpisheh |first3 = Yeganeh |last3 = Torbati }}</ref>