News / Economy

Iran says running on budget of below $40bn

Saturday, 24 January 2015 2:13 PM [ Last Update: Saturday, 24 January 2015 2:13 PM ]

Iran says the drop in oil prices has made it run on a budget of less than $40 billion.

A senior Iranian official said on Saturday that the drastic drop in oil prices has already made the country to run on a budget of less than $40 billion.

Mohammad-Baqer Nobakht, the president of Iran’s Management and Planning Organization (MPO), said the country previously managed on a budget of $55-$60 billion thanks to high oil prices.

“However, the current prices of crude oil in international markets have delivered a shock to Iran’s economy,” Nobakht told an economic event held in capital Tehran titled Iran National Efficiency Conference.

Nonetheless, he said, Iran can manage to run the affairs of the state by resorting to “resistance economy”.

“To the same effect, the government has drafted a collection of policies,” said Nobakht who is also a vice president and the spokesman of the Iranian government.

He added that the solution for Iran is to make efficient use of petrodollars instead of trying to make the economy independent from oil money.

Nobakht’s remarks follow a recent proposal by Iranian MPs to cut the reliance of the Iranian budget from oil revenues to zero. MP Gholamhossein Mesbahi Moghaddam said earlier this week that a motion on the same front has been signed by 150 MPs and will be moved ahead in the near future.

The main mechanisms envisaged in the motion include promoting the role of the private sector in development projects as well as selling securities to the general public.

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