Tehran, Iran, November 12
By Mehdi Sepahvand –- Trend:
During the first half of the current Iranian fiscal year (which started March 20), oil revenues made a small 27 percent of Iran’s budget, according to Minister of Economy Ali Tayyebnia.
The minister said the government’s policy for the next fiscal year is even to further wean the budget from oil, Mehr news agency reported November 12.
At times the oil-rich country’s annual budget has been fed from oil up to 80 percent.
Tayyebnia noted that his country is experiencing harsh days regarding budget. “The government budget is not in a good shape,” he said.
“The truth is that sanctions caused great damage to Iran’s economy. But they also made us recognize the weak points.”
According to a recent report by the International Monetary Fund, Iran is going to witness the greatest rise in the non-oil sector share in its gross domestic product among MENAP countries (Middle East, North Africa, Pakistan and Afghanistan) in the 2021 outlook.
Iran’s oil export declined from 2.3 mbpd in 2012 to 1 mbpd during the sanctions which ended in January 2016.
The country has now regained its previous export volume, but at a time when prices are nearly half what they were before the sanctions.