Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov.25
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
The Iranian administration will continue paying cash subsidies the calendar next year (starts on March 21, 2015), Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, Iranian vice president for planning and strategic supervision, said.
He said 455,000 rials (about $14) will be paid to Iranians based on the country's subsidy reform plan, Iran's Fars news agency reported on November 25.
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.
In March, Iranian MP Mousarreza Servati said that some 15 million of Iranian population live below the poverty line.
He went on to note that the figure includes about 20 percent of Iranians which is considerable.
In February, 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.