Baku, Azerbaijan, Jan. 8
By Umid Niayesh - Trend:
Over 310 trillion rials (about $9 billion based on free market rate of 35,000 rials/USD) of the government's predicted incomes for current fiscal year (started on March 21, 2014) will not be materialized, the Iranian government's spokesman, Mohammad Bagher Nobakht said.
Nobakht, who is Iran's Vice President for Planning and Strategic Supervision said that the administration will handle the situation, however "it would face some difficulties," the official IRNA news agency reported Jan. 8.
It is while Nobakht said in Dec. 29, 2014 that the country will not face any budget deficit in the current Iranian fiscal year due to oil price fall.
"Even if the oil prices fall to $34 per barrel, we can handle the problem," Nobakht said.
While commenting on possible deficit in budget for next Iranian fiscal year (to start on March 21, 2015) Nobakht said that the government has forecasted 710 trillion rials of oil revenues for next year which if is not materialized, the government will compensate it by cutting construction projects as well as funding for running the government.
The administration has allocated 461 trillion rials (about $13 billion) for construction projects as well as 2.673 quadrillion rials (about $76 billion) for running the government in the next year's budget.
Falling global oil prices forced Iran's government to decrease the oil price figure in the proposed budget bill for the next Iranian fiscal year to $72 per barrel from the current figure of $100.
Oil revenues share about 50 percent of Iran's current fiscal year budget, meanwhile the figure has been decreased to 33 percent in next year's budget bill.
President Hassan Rouhani already confirmed that the Islamic Republic's oil revenues have decreased by 30 percent as a result of the price fall.
Experts believe that due to the continuing fall of oil prices in global markets, a budget deficit in the next fiscal year is also inevitable.
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