Mehdi Samii

Mehdi Samii (Persian: مهدی سمیعی; 1918–2010) was an Iranian chartered accountant, banker and economist.^[1] 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 [Central] bank [of Iran]" and "more than anyone else responsible" for it.^[1] 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.^[1]

Mehdi Samii
Ambassador-at-large and Advisor to the Prime Minister for International Financing
In office 1971–1973
Prime Minister	Amir-Abbas Hoveyda
Governor of the Central Bank of Iran
In office 1970–1971
Prime Minister	Amir-Abbas Hoveyda
Preceded by	Khodadad Farmanfarmaian
Succeeded by	Abdolali Jahanshahi
In office 1964–1969
Prime Minister	Hassan-Ali Mansur
Deputy	Khodadad Farmanfarmaian
Preceded by	Ali-Asghar Poorhomayoon
Succeeded by	Khodadad Farmanfarmaian
Head of Plan and Budget Organization of Iran
In office 1969–1970
Prime Minister	Amir-Abbas Hoveyda
Preceded by	Mohammad-Safi Asfia
Succeeded by	Khodadad Farmanfarmaian
Personal details
Born	(1918-06-24)24 June 1918 Tehran, Qajar Iran
Died	30 June 2010(2010-06-30) (aged 92) Los Angeles, California, USA
Political party	Resurgence Party (1975–78) People's Party (1957–75)
Relatives	Fereydoun Mahdavi

Biography

Samii was born in Tehran in 1910.^[1][2] He held office as the Governor of the Central Bank of Iran (1964–1969; 1970–1971), the head of Plan and Budget Organization of Iran (1969–1971) and Ambassador-at-large (1971–1973).^[1] Before that, Samii rejected job offers for ministerial roles twice: Once in 1960 when Jafar Sharif-Emami offered him the role of the minister of agriculture and the next in the following year when Ali Amini proposed that he become minister of commerce.^[1]

He was a co-founder of Iranian Institute of Certified Accountants.^[1] He died in 2010.^[2]