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Some 15 million Iranians below poverty line

Iran Materials 8 March 2014 10:36 (UTC +04:00)
Some 15 million of Iranian population live below the poverty line, Iranian MP Mousarreza Servati said, Fars news agency reported on March 8.
Some 15 million Iranians below poverty line

Baku, Azerbaijan, March 8

By Umid Niayesh - Trend:

Some 15 million of Iranian population live below the poverty line, Iranian MP Mousarreza Servati said, Fars news agency reported on March 8.

He went on to note that the figure includes about 20 percent of Iranians which is considerable.

The Iranian officials should pay attention on the issue, Servati said, adding that the statistics in not seemly for Iran.

He also underlined that some 7 million of the people who living below the poverty line are not supported by Iranian official entities.

"Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation covers only six million people of them," he said. "About two million of the Iranian people are also supported by State Welfare Organization."

Earlier in May 2010, Iran's Department of Statistics announced that ten million Iranians live under the "Absolute Poverty Line" and 30 million live under the "Relative Poverty Line."

On Feb. 2, the government began distributing food packages to help low-income Iranians. But bad planning caused it to go wrong, and the administration was seriously criticized on the issue.

Iranian President Hassan Rouhani underlined that the administration will pay attention to ensuring food security for the people, saying that food package subsidies will be delivered to people, along with the cash subsidies.

The administration pays 455,000 rials (about $18 based on the U.S. dollar official exchange rate of 24,800 rials) to Iranians based on the country's subsidy reform plan.

Iran's subsidy reform plan is aimed at easing the pressure on state finances by cutting tens of billions of dollars from government subsidies on food and fuel. The government pays cash to citizens as compensation for increased prices by cutting subsides.

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