BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 17
By Elnur Baghishov – Trend:
It is necessary to eliminate the budget deficit problem at first to solve the economic problems in Iran, Iranian expert on economic issues Ali Akbar Nikoo Eghbal told Trend.
The expert noted that the Iranian government's revenues are low.
Eghbal added that 70-80 percent of state budget in developed countries is covered at the expense of taxes. However, this figure is between 20-30 percent in Iran.
“The volume of direct taxes in Iran is very low and therefore a number of steps must be carried out in this regard. If indirect taxes are raised instead of direct taxes, it will lead to higher inflation in the country,” he said.
The economist emphasized that the budget deficit has resulted in increased liquidity in Iran for many years. At present, liquidity in Iran exceeds an average of 30 percent.
The liquidity in Iran increased by 36.2 percent in the 6th month of the current Iranian year (August 22-September 21, 2020) compared to the same month last Iranian year. Thus, the liquidity in Iran amounted to 28.9 quadrillion rials (about $689 billion) in the sixth month.
A total of 302 trillion rials (about $7 billion) worth of taxes were paid in Iran during the first six months of the current Iranian year (from March 20 through September 21, 2020).
The worth of Iran's budget is 5.7 quadrillion rials (about $135 billion) in the current Iranian year (from March 20, 2020 to March 21, 2021). The amount of budget deficit is estimated to be at about 2 quadrillion rials (about $47.6 billion) in Iran in this year.