Tehran, YJC. Management and planning chief said on Saturday recent drop in oil prices has already made the country to make do with a budget bellow $40 billion.
President of Iran’s Management and Planning Organization (MPO), Mohammad-Baqer
Nobakht, said Iran has managed in the past to do with 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.