Azerbaijan, Baku, Mar. 21/ Trend F.Milad/
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has said the government plans to nearly double cash subsidies to 800,000 rials (some $65) when the second phase of the Subsidy Reform Plan is enforced, the Fars news agency reported.
In a televised speech on Monday, he said that the second phase of the plan had been scheduled to be implemented before the end of the previous calendar year (March 19), but some problems delayed it.
Meanwhile, the economic committee of the Iranian parliament (Majlis) has drafted a bill to maintain the cash subsidies at the current amount of 455,000 rials in the second phase.
The second phase has envisaged removing 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 handouts.
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