Baku, Azerbaijan, Oct.21
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Despite a recent decline in crude oil prices, Iran faces no budget deficit, Iran's finance and economic affairs minister Ali Tayyebnia said, Iran's Fars news agency reported Oct. 21.
"We receive petrodollars 5-6 months after selling crude oil. Presently, we are spending the revenues which we received in the previous months," Tayyebnia said.
The decline in oil prices has reduced the country's revenues, but we should increase tax incomes to reduce dependence on oil incomes, he said.
Brent crude, a global benchmark, has tumbled 26 percent since June and settled at $85.40 a barrel on October 20.
Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has consulted with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about political and economic reasons for the price collapse, Iran's Shana news website reported on October 20.
Rouhani told Zanganeh to use the "oil diplomacy tool" to try to prevent a further decrease, the state-run Mehr news agency reported without elaborating.
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