According to the Fourth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2005–2010), the Privatization Organization of Iran affiliated with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finance is in charge of setting prices and ceding shares to the general public and on the Tehran Stock Exchange. The privatization effort is primarily backed by reformist members of the Iranian government and society who hope that privatization can bring about economic and social change.

Prior to 1979, Iran's economic development was rapid. Traditionally an agrarian society, by the 1970s the country had undergone significant industrialization and economic modernization. This pace of growth had slowed dramatically by 1978 as capital flight reached $30 to $40 billion 1980 US dollars just before the revolution.