Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept.8
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Iran will earn $13 billion from implementing the subsidy reform plan by the end of the current Iranian fiscal year (March 2015).
Ahmad Davoodi, the presidential office's director for infrastructure affairs, said at present nearly $13.5 billion is paid in cash subsidies, Iran's Fars news agency reported on September 8.
Moreover, $1.5 billion has been allocated for the health and medical treatment sector, and $3.2 billion has been allocated for the production sector.
The subsidy reform plan, which was called "the biggest surgery to the economy", was put into operation in September 2010.
According to the plan, the subsidy on food and energy is removed gradually, and the government allocates a portion of the amount saved to people and industry.
Subsidies account for 74 percent of the cost of electricity and fuel in Iran, ranking the country 4th among members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), according to the International Energy Agency (IEA) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).