TEHRAN, Iran, July 11
Trend:
Iran's Ministry of Economic Affairs and Finances has suggested that the government reduces its consumption expenditures to balance the budget, said the minister.
"The budget plan in current Iranian year [started March 20, 2020] did not consider economic damages caused by coronavirus; furthermore, decline of foreign currency revenues was the cost that the government did not predict," said Farhad Dejpasand, Trend reported citing IRNA.
"There should be a balance between costs and revenues in the budget, while the decrease of oil sale and tax revenues due to the coronavirus spread led to unexpected expenses that should be compensated," the said.
"The major challenges are financial policymaking and public budget balance; to meet them, the ministry has submitted suggestions to the government," he added. "The ministry proposed to balance the budget via cost reduction. We also suggested that consumption cost be reduced without damaging the quality of services provided to people."
"Managing credits to construction projects is another way. Thus, the government should avoid assigning providing credits to the projects that would not operate in the next two years, while the private sector can invest in them to complete," the minister said.
"The government's meetings, summits and trips abroad should be reduced alongside working days for employees in public offices; there should be flexibility in working hours to further reduce expenditures," he said.
"Reducing costs in the short term and managing credit assignment in the long term will help balance the budget," he added.