IRAN NEWS ECONOMIC DESK

TEHRAN – Vice President and Head of Plan and Budget Organization (PBO) Mohammad Baqer Nobakht says Iran is fully ready to export 4.6m bpd of crude oil in case the sanctions are lifted by the U.S. but in the budget bill, it is predicted the country to sell between 1 to 2.3m bpd next year.

Speaking in a press conference yesterday, Nobakht revealed more details on the government’s budget bill which was submitted to Majlis on Tuesday. He said that according to the predicted revenues for the current year, the government was to earn 384,000b tomans in the first eight months of the current year but the earning in the mentioned period is 50,000b tomans shy of the set target.

He went on to say that the government payment and salary this year has been 53 percent more than last year, adding that whatever revenue the government has economized has been spent for the public livelihood.

Nobakht further said that development credits have increased by 65 percent, adding that this rise of the credit shows itself in forming investment in housing which has grown by 5.4 percent. He said the government has received only 19,000b tomans of petty cash from the central bank while it had authority to get 39,000b tomans.

He refuted allegations that the government has transferred its budget deficit to the Central Bank, adding that they are baseless remarks, as the government has only used 19,000b tomans of petty cash while it was allowed to get 39,000b tomans.

Nobakht reiterated that the GDP in all groups was positive in the summer and the country experienced positive growth 0.2 percent with oil sale. He noted although due to the coronavirus pandemic some jobs were lost, the growth in the agro sector was positive 2.7 percent and in mining sector positive 4 percent, admitting that the figure was minus 3 percent in the service sector without oil.

Nobakht said that the government predicts to earn 199,000b tomans through oil sales revenues and it will be possible if the country can sell 1 to 2.3m barrels per day, adding that if the oil exports miss the mentioned target, the government has to sell bonds or shares of the companies and factories.

He reiterated that the oil sale in the budget bill is flexible from 1 to 2.3 million barrels, reiterating that the government is optimistic to regain its OPEC quota in the market and in case it does not happen, it can sell bonds and shares.

Nobakht added that for the basic goods, the government eyes the price of dollar for 4200 tomans but all depends on the forex prices in the market.

He rejected the allegations that the government intentionally lets the dollar price go up in the market to compensate its budget deficit, reiterating that the government could do it with the dollar with price of 22,500 tomans and not with the price of 11,500 tomans which is to be the base price for the dollar in the budget bill next year.

Nobakht reiterated that currently and due to the devaluation of the dollar in the market, the capital market is witnessing growth.

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The official added that the prepared budget bill, which was to be submitted to the parliament on December 16, foresees budget management in the next two years.

As the presidential chief of staff Mahmoud Vaezi announced few days ago the predicted expenses have been reduced in the budget bill. “All the expenses except those allocated to Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation, State Welfare Organization of Iran and Civil Servants Pension Organization (C.S.P.O) have been reduced in the bill,” he said.

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Head of Plan and Budget Organization Mohammad-Bagher Nobakht said that the country can overcome sanctions successfully due to its high capabilities and potentials.

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“Domestic economy faces no problem and we plan to strengthen our national currency,” IRIB quoted him as saying in a news conference.
“From March 21 to June 24, the government has paid above $11.16 billion of foreign currencies, which is not less than the figure of the same time span in the preceding year,” he said, “demand for and supply of foreign currencies in the said time has increased 21 percent compared to that of the previous year, while government oil revenues and general income has increased 74 percent and 59.8 percent, respectively.”

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“This person [U.S. President Donald Trump] is not a ‘wise representative’ of the U.S. We hope that the American nation will think about it,” he said at a press conference.

Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un held a first summit in Singapore on Tuesday.

Nobakht said President Trump could still scrap an agreement committing the U.S. to unspecified “security guarantees” in exchange for the denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.

“It is not clear that he would not cancel the agreement before returning home.”

Trump pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran last month.

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The official said some 797,000 people were added to the employed population of Iran in the last calendar year.

He further mentioned creating jobs in the rural areas as one of the main employment plans of the government.

Some 210,000 jobs were created in the rural areas in the past calendar year, according to Abolfazl Razavi, the vice president for rural development and deprived areas.

The official said the figure is tried to reach 300,000 in the current year.

Iran’s Sixth Five-Year National Development Plan (2016-2021) has envisaged creation of 384,000 jobs in rural areas per year, Razavi further announced.

The Statistical Center of Iran has announced that the number of employed people reached 23,378,613 in the past year.

The center also put the country’s unemployment rate at 12.1 percent, indicating 0.3 percent fall year on year.

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Referring to the 3.2 million unemployed work force in Iran, Nobakht said despite the fact that the government is faced with lack of financial resources, 734 trillion rials (about $17.4 billion) has been allocated for creating jobs.

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Making the remarks in a press conference, Nobakht, who is also the head of Budget and Planning Organization, explained that by March 2019, the government plans to create 240,000 jobs via reviving 100,000 dilapidated constructions, 60,000 jobs by constructing 100,000 housing units, 67,000 jobs in agricultural sector, 173,000 jobs in cultural heritage sector, 221,000 jobs in active labor market policies and 74,500 jobs in industrial sector.

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Speaking at a television talk show on Saturday night, Nobakht said the administration expects to create jobs for 830,000 people in the next Iranian year, 70 percent of whom would be university-educated individuals.

According to the spokesman, the administration has allocated a remarkable amount of the next year’s national budget to job creation by investment in six major areas.

He also dismissed speculations about halting monthly cash payments under the subsidy reform plan, stressing that the number of beneficiaries of cash handout may even increase if the administration detects new eligible receivers and removes rich families from the list of cash receivers.

His comments came after a series of protests in a number of Iranian cities over the past days to complain about high costs of living and economic issues.

According to Article 27 of the Iranian Constitution, “public gatherings and marches are allowed so long as the participants do not carry arms and are not in violation of the fundamental principles of Islam.”

Following the peaceful civil rallies, the Western and a number of Arab media outlets tried to portray the protests as a political uprising against the Establishment.

Iranian officials maintain that people have the right to stage protests to express their opinions, as long as the rallies comply with the legal conditions.

In remarks in the wake of the rallies, First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri highlighted the administration’s economic achievements and ongoing efforts in that sphere, emphasizing that the country’s economy is all in all “on the right track” despite “certain shortcomings.”

The official added that “the prices of several commodities may have seen a rise due to some incidents, and each case has its own reason,” adding that the government is duty-bound to revise them.

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