Azerbaijan, Baku, Feb. 19/ Trend F.Milad/
Iran is set to increase the price of water as well as four fuels, namely natural gas, gasoline, diesel oil and furnace oil as the country plans to start the second phase of the Subsidy Reform Plan in the near future, the industry, mine and trade minister announced on Monday.
Mehr news agency quoted Mehdi Ghazanfari as saying that the administration would apply moderate prices to the production sector.
Meanwhile, Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Shamseddin Hosseini has said that Iran plans to raise cash subsidies in the second phase of the Subsidy Reform Plan, IRNA news agency reported.
This phase sees the removal of subsidies of some three million Iranian families. The Iranian government is planning to pay more cash subsidies to the economically vulnerable strata and cut subsidies of the well-off families.
The plan, launched in December 2010, allows the Iranian government to gradually slash subsidies on fuel, electricity, and certain goods over the course of five years, with low-income families being compensated with direct cash hand-outs.