Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec.16
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: More than 2,906 projects are semi-finished in Iran, the Mehr News Agency quoted Mohammad-Baqer Nobakht, the Iranian president's aide, as saying on Dec. 16.
We will allocate the lion's share of the budget to finish the projects which are over 80 percent complete, he added.
It has been planned to complete 184 projects, which are over 80 percent complete, and 62 projects which are 20-80 percent complete, in the next [Iranian] year, he noted.
He also said that the next year's budget bill has set the national development budget at 380 trillion rials (about $15.3 billion), a 33 percent year on year.
The next Iranian year will begin on March 21, 2014.
On Dec. 8, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani presented the administration's draft of the national budget bill for Iranian calendar year 1393 to the parliament.
The proposed national budget amounts to about 7.83 quadrillion rials (about $315 billion based on the official exchange rate of 24,850 rials), an 8.4 percent rise year on year.
Next year's national budget is based on an oil price of $100 per barrel and a projected average exchange rate of 26,000 rials to the U.S. dollar for the fiscal year.
The funding for running the government increased by 240 trillion rials (about $9.6 billion) and was set at 1.95 quadrillion rials (about $78.4 billion).
The draft national budget estimates crude oil production and exports at about 3.3 million barrels per day and 1.5 million barrels per day, respectively.
Rouhani has said that the budget bill contains useful data on ways to provide public services and construct infrastructures.
"The administration's main concerns are to create jobs, curb runaway inflation and boost economic growth," he added.
Edited by C.N.