Iran's state budget bill in deadlock over further revisions
Yusef Jalali
Press TV, Tehran
Iran’s Guardian Council has rejected the general outlines of the government’s draft state budget for the new Iranian fiscal year, which begins on March 21.
After months of wrangling between the Iranian parliament and government over the outlines of this year’s draft budget, the final budget bill is yet to be approved. In February, lawmakers dismissed the generalities of the budget bill, after the government read the draft budget in parliament without the presence of President Hassan Rouhani.
Parliament called the proposed budget bill too generous on government spending and short on development funds. In mid-February, the government amended the bill and sent it to parliament.
On Saturday, Iran’s constitution watchdog, the Guardian Council, reviewed the new draft budget and sent it back to parliament for further revisions.
One of the sticking points in the government’s proposed budget has to do with its significant reliance on oil revenues. This as the country is planning to diversify its economy and steer it away from dependence on crude sales.
The budget of about 58 billion dollars is up 22-percent compared to last year’s figures, but way too low from the years before the most draconian US sanctions ever targeted Iran’s crude exports.
The government had projected more than two million barrels of oil exports per day amid continuing US sanctions, but lawmakers say this is too optimistic, given the fact that current crude sales are below one million barrels a day.
Parliament says it’s now working on a list of the bill’s shortcomings highlighted by the Guardian Council and will try to settle the issues with the government. The government says any change in the structure of the new budget bill could cause serious damage to the people's livelihood.
President Rouhani says the draft focuses on the nation’s welfare based on the US’s economic war against Iran, with infrastructure reforms, health, creating jobs, and boosting non-oil exports being among its key goals.
Now, with just a few days to go for the start of the new fiscal year, the clock is ticking on the legislature and the executive to arrive at an agreement over the new budget.
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