BAKU, Azerbaijan, March 24
By Elnur Baghishov - Trend
In the current situation, under the US sanctions and amid the spread of coronavirus, the sale of Iranian oil will not seriously affect the budget, former deputy for International Affairs of the Central Bank of Iran Seyed Kamal Seyed Ali told Trend.
According to Seyed Ali, Iran's oil sales have fallen sharply in the wake of the US sanctions against Iran.
Seyed Ali added that if Iran wants to regain its lost share of the oil market, it will take a long time.
"Currently, as a result of the spread of the coronavirus in the world, the consumption of oil and oil products has decreased significantly, and thus, oil prices also fell," he said.
The expert said that in addition, Iran's currency problem will not decrease, so the sale price of Iranian oil products will fall.
Given all this, Iran's budget shall not depend on the oil sales, he noted.
Therefore, Iran should pay more attention to the non-oil sector, agriculture and other sectors, Seyed Ali said
Iran's budget for current Iranian year (began March 20, 2020) envisages a total of $22.25 billion from oil and gas export revenues. Of this, $18.25 billion are to come from oil exports and $4 billion from gas exports.
The US imposed new sanctions on Iran in November 2018. Over the past period, the sanctions affected Iranian oil exports, more than 700 banks, companies and individuals.