Baku, Azerbaijan, May 13
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Over $25 billion worth of goods are smuggled into Iran annually, which is more than the country's oil income, said Iranian MP Mohammad-Reza Pourebrahimi.
That is while the parliament approved a bill 14 months ago to combat smuggling of goods and foreign currencies, Iran's Fars news agency quoted Pourebrahimi as saying on May 13.
"Unfortunately, domestic manufacturers are grappling with a drop in sales, and consequently, a shortage of liquidity and revolving capital due to irregular and illegal imports of goods," he said.
Although the administration had been obliged to pave the way for tracking all products existing in the domestic market, no measure has been taken after 14 months, he noted.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said in December 2014 that the national budget "would be under pressure" because of the fall in oil prices.
He said oil revenues earmarked for the 2015-2016 budget would be $24 billion.
Iran has the world's fourth largest proven oil reserves and currently exports around 1.3 million barrels per day.
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