BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb. 2
Trend:
Iran`s President Hassan Rouhani discussed the issue of next year's budget bill (starts on March 21, 2021), as well as the government's plans to support the capital market, during the Government Economic Coordination Headquarters meeting today on Tuesday.
Referring the reports presented at the meeting regarding the changes made in the government budget bill in the Budget Commission of the Parliament, the president said that the government has repeatedly stressed the need to maintain the main elements of the bill, Trend reports citing IRNA.
“The issues such as fighting corruption, reducing inflation, strengthening the value of the national currency, supporting people's livelihoods, and providing basic goods in the next year's budget bill have been seriously considered by the government,” President Rouhani said.
Rouhani said that the budget bill has been prepared to manage the country's economy in the conditions of economic war and to manage the development path.
"According to the government, changes in the structure and main axes of the budget can seriously damage people's livelihoods, development and management of the country's economy.”
Following the meeting, the Central Bank's report on the foreign exchange and commodity markets was presented and the necessary decisions were taken to strengthen the movement towards reducing inflation rate.
The President said that the process of providing foreign exchange for basic goods and medicine by the government continues.
Iran’s national budget bill for the next Iranian calendar year 1400 (starts on March 21), whose draft was submitted to the parliament on December 2, 2020.
The Iranian Parliament (Majles) is likely to reject the annual budget bill presented by President Hassan Rouhani's administration, or to approve a partial budget for the first three months of the coming Iranian year that starts on March 21.
Based on advice offered by the Majles Research Center, Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf on Sunday, December 27, once again called on the Rouhani administration to send an amended version of the bill. Both the research center and the speaker of the Majles said that biggest problem about the budget bill is its sizable deficit.
The deficit is mostly because of US economic sanctions that have prevented Iran from exporting crude oil and earning billions of dollars that has traditionally financed more than half of the government budget. The draft budget is based on overly optimistic assumption about much higher oil exports next year that depends on negotiations with the United States.