Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 25 / Trend F.Milad/
Majlis Speaker Ali Larijani has sent a letter to Head of the Majlis Economic Committee Chairman Gholamreza Mesbahi Moqaddam, calling him for sending the committee's report on the government's violations in implementing the Subsidy Reform Plan.
The Iranian government is facing 100 trillion rials (some $10 billion) budge deficit due to unlawful expenditures for implementing the Subsidy Reform Plan, a member of the Majlis said on December 17.
Ja'far Qaderi added that the government has so far earned 170 trillion rials out of implementing the plan, but paid around 270 trillion rials to people and industries as cash subsidies, the Mehr news agency reported.
Meanwhile, the deputy economy minister said earlier this month that there is no shortage in the budget related to paying subsidies. So, cash handouts will be continued by the end of the year.
Mohammad-Reza Farzin added that if the government does not change prices based on the subsidy reform plan, it will face around $54 billion budget deficit, he noted.
The subsidy reform plan, launched in December 2010, allows the Iranian government to gradually slash subsidies on fuel, electricity, and certain goods over the course of five years, with low-income families being compensated with direct cash handouts.