Baku, Azerbaijan, Feb.24
By Fatih Karimov - Trend: The Iranian parliament approved $1.2 billion to boost the country's defense capabilities.
The budget will be drawn from the National Development Fund, Iran's Fars news agency reported on Feb. 24, without giving further details.
The government's proposed national budget for next year amounts about 8.379 quadrillion rials (about $293 billion).
The Iranian government has offered a 32.7 percent rise in defense expenditure in next year's budget bill compared to the current year's budget, most of which will be assigned to the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC).
IRGC budget has increased to 174 trillion rials (about $6.11 billion based on the official rate of each USD at 28,500 rials in the budget bill).
About 100 trillion rials (about $3.51 billion) of this amount are allocated to Khatam-ol Anbia Construction Headquarters, some 60 percent of IRGC's total budget for next year.
Edited by CN