Azerbaijan, Dec.10
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: The budgets of the Iranian army and the Islamic Republic Guard Corps have increased significantly in Iran's next year budget bill, the Mehr News Agency reported on Dec.10.
The next Iranian calendar year will begin on March 21, 2014.
The army's budget has increased by 50 percent and was set at 52 trillion rials (about $2.1 billion), and the IRGC's budget has increased by 30 percent and was set at 44 trillion rials (about $1.8 billion).
Moreover, the budget of the law enforcement forces has increased by 90 trillion rials. According to Mehr, the bill has allocated 183 trillion rials (about $7.2 billion) to state organizations, including the armed forces, the parliament, the intelligence ministry, the foreign ministry, as well as the Expediency Council and the Guardian Council.
The budgets of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting and the Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance have been set at 9.67 trillion rials (about $390 million) and 6.23 trillion rials (about $251 million), respectively.
President Hassan Rouhani presented the administration's draft of the national budget bill for the Iranian calendar year 1393, which starts on March 21, 2014, to the parliament(Majlis) on Sunday.
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.
Edited by C.N.