Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 11
By Farhad Daneshvar – Trend:
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani introduced the government’s draft budget for the next fiscal year (starting March 20) on Sunday, a proposal that seems like an indication of economic pessimism.
However, Rouhani says that Iran’s economy has become “stable” over the past year and he is looking to fulfill his economic promises.
“If I want to summarize this year’s budget plan in one sentence, I would say that the budget of the [fiscal] year [13] 97 has been planned in order to create large-scale employment, eliminate poverty and establish justice,” Rouhani told the parliament.
The government’s general budget is estimated at 368 trillion tomans (about $105 billion according to the estimated USD rate in the draft), indicating an increase of six percent compared to the current year.
The inflation rate in Iran’s urban areas for the 12-month period to the eighth Iranian calendar month of Aban (ended on Nov. 22) hit 9.9 percent.
Considering the inflation rate, economists would describe the draft budget as an indication of the government’s contractionary policies for the coming year.
This is while the administration has proposed to decrease the development budget by 15 percent, 60 trillion tomans (about $17.1 billion).
The draft budget has also projected the government’s oil income at 101 trillon tomans (about $28.8 billion), a drop of 10.5 percent compared to the current year’s budget.
In the meantime, the administration is supposed to transfer about 32 percent of its oil revenues to the National Development Fund of Iran.
Although the administration has added 12 percent to the share of the development fund, Rouhani urged the parliament to support his plans for reforming the country’s banking system and also strategic projects.
Meanwhile, the administration has decided to decrease the volume of cash subsidies by 11 trillion tomans to 37 trillion tomans.
The administration also plans to increase its revenue from tax by 10.3 percent to 128 trillion tomans.
Departure tax is also planned to be increase three times to 220,000 tomans per passenger. The departure tax will reach to 330,000 tomans and 440,000 tomans in the second and third times of departure for an individual.
Rouhain has announced that his government is seeking an economic growth of five percent through the new draft budget. However, Rouhani had promised a growth of eight percent, when he introduced his five-year economic development plan two years ago.
