Azerbaijan, Baku Aug. 31 / Trend, N. Umid
Iran's administration faces fund shortage in paying the cash subsidy, Iranian first vice president Eshaq Jahangiri said, Mehrnews agency reported.
Cash subsidy payment is among the challenges which newly elected President Hassan Rouhani`s administration would face, he noted, adding that the administration faces high budget deficit.
The government of Rouhani paid its first cash subsidy to Iranian people in mid-August.
Iranian citizens have received about 10.9 trillion rials (approximately $44 billion, based on current official USD rate of 24,812 rials) since the beginning of the subsidy plan.
Rouhani previously promised to keep paying cash subsidies to citizens, despite economic difficulties in Iran. Currently, every citizen in Iran receives around 450,000 rials ($18.3) per month in cash subsidy.
Iranian government pays around $1.3 billion per month to 72 million Iranian citizens. The government's revenue during the last solar year (ended on March 20) hit 10.7 billion as a result of price hike, and $4.1 billion was allocated from the budget for paying cash subsidies to people.
However, during the last solar year, Iranian government paid $17.3 billion. This indicates that government faced a deficit of $2.7 billion in subsidy plan.
All figures were calculated based on current USD rate to rials, while during last solar year the rate was 12,260 rials.
Current annual budget law allows government to increase energy carriers' price by 38 percent.