TEHRAN, Iran, Aug.18
Trend:
Iranian parliament has rejected the oil ministry's plan to presale crude oil at energy exchange in the form of oil bonds, said the head of parliament budget and planning commission.
"The parliament commission reviewed the plan to presale crude oil at the exchange, and it was strongly opposed by MPs; then it was announced to the ministers of oil, economic affairs and finances that the plan should be stopped," said Hamidreza Hajbabaei, Trend reports citing ISNA.
"Reasons for this disapproval were discussed at the parliament's closed session," he said.
"The presale of crude oil was stopped until the review of legal documents; the government is not allowed to presale oil, so offering 500,000 barrels of oil at stock exchange is against the law," Hajbabaei added,
The commission is expected to hold a meeting with government officials on Aug. 18 to discuss the issue.
The Head of Iran's Planning and Budget Organization Mohammad Baqer Nobakht has tweeted on his account that the presale of oil bonds is different from final sale of crude oil and noted that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has not commented on the issue yet.
On Aug. 16, Iranian government made a decision to offer oil bonds at Iran Energy Exchange. The Governor of Central Bank of Iran Abdolnasser Hemmati has warned last week that if budget deficit is not covered, the inflation will increase, and the sale of oil bonds is one of the ways to finance budget deficit.