Azerbaijan, Baku, Oct.23/ Trend, F. Karimov/
Paying cash subsidies to Iranian expatriates will be stopped for the next three months, the Mehr News Agency quoted MP Abdolkarim Rajabi as saying.
Moreover, paying cash subsidies to capital owners, who pay high amounts of tax, will be stopped, he added.
The administration is obliged to identify families with the highest level of income in the next three months and cut their cash subsidy, he said.
This issue will help us use our money on development projects, he said, adding that semi-finished development projects require 4,000 trillion rials (about $160 billion) to be completed.
On October 19, the Iranian parliament (Majlis) and the administration agreed to finalize cutting cash subsidies of some high-income Iranian families by the end of the current fiscal year (March 2014), the Mehr News Agency quoted Central Bank of Iran governor Valiollah Seif as saying.
Iranian people have really understood the need [to cut the cash subsidies], he said, adding that the goal of 'economy without oil' has been materialized in the country.
On October 13, the website of the Iranian parliament (Majlis) quoted MP Abbas Rajaee as saying that more than 30 percent of cash subsidies, which are paid to people in Iran, should be cut.
Through cutting cash subsidies for high income earners, the budget deficit can be fixed, he added.
Paying cash subsidies to people is poisonous for the national economy, he said. Cutting subsidies of all but villagers and pensioners and those who are under coverage of welfare organizations will not be problematic, he explained.
Meanwhile, the Fars News Agency quoted Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, the presidential advisor for planning affairs, as saying that the administration is facing 10 trillion rials (about $400 million based on the US dollar exchange rate of 24,800 rials) to pay the cash subsidies this month.
Each month, 35 trillion rials (about $1.4 billion) is paid as cash subsidies to 76 million Iranians. This issue is the cause of a number of problems, he said. In fact, the wealthy do not need financial assist of the administration, he noted.
The subsidy reform plan pays 45,500 rials (about $18 based on the U.S. dollar official exchange rate of 24,800 rials) to Iranians, eliminating subsidies for fuels and some commodities.
MP Ahmad Tavakkoli has criticized the current method of cash subsidy payments, saying that paying subsidies in cash to people is carried out just in Iran. Paying cash subsidies to all groups of people with different incomes should be revised given that the administration is facing a budget deficit.
