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Some 8 million Iranians not eligible to receive cash subsidy

Business Materials 21 December 2012 11:27 (UTC +04:00)
Some eight million wealthy Iranians have been identified who are not eligible to receive cash subsidy, the Fars News Agency quoted the national economic reform working group’s spokesman Mohammad-Reza Farzin as saying.

Azerbaijan, Baku, Dec. 21/ Trend G.Mehdi/

Some eight million wealthy Iranians have been identified who are not eligible to receive cash subsidy, the Fars News Agency quoted the national economic reform working group's spokesman Mohammad-Reza Farzin as saying.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad criticized the Majlis on Wednesday for passing a bill temporarily preventing the administration from implementing the next stages of the subsidy reform plan.

Ahmadinejad made the remarks as the administration marked the second anniversary of the beginning of the subsidy reform plan, which has been described as the most important "economic surgery" in the history of Iran.

According to a Majlis ratification, the administration is obliged to implement the subsidy reform plan in three stages over the course of five years, The Tehran Times reported.

The implementation of the subsidy reform plan began in December 2010.

It allows the government to gradually slash subsidies on fuel, electricity, and certain goods over the course of five years, with low-income families being compensated with direct cash handouts.

On May 5, the Majlis rejected the administration's proposal to increase revenues from subsidy cuts, a move which could have effectively blocked the implementation of the second stage of the subsidy reform plan in the current Iranian calendar year, which ends on March 20.

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