TEHRAN (Iran News) – Iran’s ministry of the industry says export of Iranian cigarettes had a lower appeal for foreign customers and smugglers in the eight-month period ending in late November 2019 as figures nearly halved compared to the similar period last year.

The ministry, known as MIMT, said legal export between March 21 and November 21 this year had stood at 80 million Iranian cigarettes, or four million packs of 20s, down 47 percent compared to the similar period in 2018.

It said smuggling, which account for the bulk of the cigarettes sent outside Iran, also plummeted by 42.6 percent to stand at 8.16 billion, or just more than four billion packs of 20s.

The total domestic consumption of cigarettes produced inside Iran, including those bearing famous international trademarks, reached 43.33 billion, or over 21.6 billion packs of 20s, over the same period, said the report covered in the official IRNA agency.

There was no data available on the imports of cigarettes or illegal trafficking into the Iranian territory of products of major cigarette companies.

However, such imports have been significantly down over the past few years, both due to more government restrictions on retails and lower demand inside Iran for such cigarettes.

The lower export of cigarettes from Iran compared to the last year comes despite the fact that the country keeps shipping more and more tobacco to other countries.

A report in October showed that tobacco exports from Iran had increased by almost 10 times in the first five months of the Iranian calendar year beginning in late March 2019.

The report said Iran had exported more than 799 tons (over 880 American tons) of tobacco until September, a historic high and an increase of 955.5 percent compared to the same period in 2018.

The post Export of Iranian cigarettes halved until late 2019 appeared first on Iran News Daily.

The post Petrochemical Plant in Iran Increase Output appeared first on Iran News Daily.

According to Shahbaz Hassanpour, the committee will start assessing the details of the bill since the budget outlines are ratified.

On December 8, President Hassan Rouhani submitted the administration’s draft of the national budget bill for the next Iranian calendar year 1399 to the Majlis.
The proposed budget amounted to about 1.988 quadrillion rials (about $473.5 billion at the official rate of 42,000 rials), with a 14-percent rise from the current year’s approved budget.

The bill has estimated the government’s budget at 5.63 quadrillion rials (about $134.04 billion), 8.2 percent higher than the figure in the present year’s budget.
A 15-percent rise has been envisaged in the salary of the governmental employees.

The submitted bill has envisaged 2.61 quadrillion rials (about $62.14 billion) of incomes, while 3.67 quadrillion rials (about $87.38 billion) of expenses.

Revenues from exporting oil, gas, and gas condensate are estimated at 454.9 trillion rials (about $10.83 billion), down 66 percent from 1.37 quadrillion rials (about $32.61 billion) approved in the current year’s budget.

Tax incomes are predicted to be 1.95 quadrillion rials (about $46.42 billion), rising 27 percent from 1.72 quadrillion rials (about $40.95 billion) envisaged in the present year’s budget.

Like the current year’s budget, the next year’s proposed budget requires the government to pay 20 percent of its oil revenues to the National Development Fund (NDF).

The main characteristic of the next year’s budget bill which makes it different from previous years’ budget bills, is the impact of the U.S. sanctions on the country’s economy and the consequent considerations which have been taken into account in preparing it.

The next year’s budget bill has been modified in terms of resources, expenditures, policies, and objectives, considering the resistance against the U.S. sanctions.
In resources, the government has tried to have the least dependence on oil resources in the history of the country’s economy.

The post Budget bill for 1399 approved appeared first on Iran News Daily.