Azerbaijan, Baku, Aug.14/ Trend F.Karimov/
The Iranian government may face budget deficit if it uses dollar at a subsidized rate of 12,260 rials by the end of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20, 2014) to import staple foods, ISNA quoted head of imports association Mohammad-Hossein Barkhordar as saying.
"The parliament has approved the import of staple foods using the Forex Center rate of 24,770 rials, but this may bring a price shock to the market," he said.
The new administration should reduce its internal expenses in order to be able to provide necessary funds to import staple foods using the cheap dollar rate of 12,260 rials, he noted.
The administration of President Hassan Rohani has pledged to provide importers of staple foods, such as wheat, with dollar at the subsidized rate in order to curb price hikes in the domestic market.
Kazem Jalali, the head of the Majlis research center, has said that just 940 trillion rials (about $38 billion) of 1420 trillion rials (about $58 billion) of approved budget for state companies was realized in the past Iranian calendar year, indicating some 500 trillion rials (about $20 billion) of budget deficit.
On July 6, Iran's central bank eliminated a subsidized, cheaper rate for foreign currency and reported a weaker official rate in its place.
The central bank on its website listed the price of a dollar at 24,779 rials, which is being offered at the Tehran Forex Center.
The Iranian rial has lost much of its value in the last two years, under pressure from international sanctions over Tehran's disputed nuclear program that have limited the country's oil sales, cut its access to the global banking system, and made it more difficult for it to earn foreign exchange.
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