NCRI – The Iranian regime will have a budget deficit of 800 Trillion Rial this year, a regime official has admitted.
The latest financial blow to the cash-strapped regime comes after months of soaring inflation, strikes and factory closures which have triggered mounting social unrest.
Mohsen Bahrami Arze-Aqdas, the head of the Commerce Commission of Tehran’s Chamber of Commerce, Industry, Mines and Agriculture said: “The government is unable to receive the predicted income from five areas of oil, sales of assets, benefits and custom tolls, taxes and the increase in energy carriers.
“The forecasted income from energy carriers which was forecast to be 38.5 percent of the budget is not achievable.
“The income produced through the imports of benefits and custom tolls cannot be accomplished since 50 billion dollars of merchandise cannot be imported officially.”
The sanctions – in place over Iran’s refusal to halt its nuclear weapons program – had also made it doubtful whether the regime would be able meet its expected sales of 1.3 million barrels of oil a day, Arze-Aqdas said.
He told a Chamber of Commerce meeting in Tehran: “We predict that more than 80,000 billion Tomans forecast for this year’s budget is not accomplishable.
Arze-Aqdas stressed that the income shortfall would plunge the regime into budget deficit, adding: “The present government will continue with its expenditure as always. This means that when revenue is halved but expenses remain the same, this is what will happen.
“Calculating the government’s current expenditure, it will run run out of money within six months and the new government that will take office from August 23 will have no money left to spend.
“It seems is that the new government will not be able to pay subsidies, and more worrying still, it will not able to pay employees’ salaries in the last three months of the year.”
To avoid the, the new 11th government must urge the outgoing administration to restrict its spending and ask parliament to approve a more realistic budget immediately, Arze-Aqdas said.
He added: “The other important issue needed to be considered is the adjustment of people’s expectations.”
“Therefore the media must clearly explain the present situation and explain the problems the country will face so that people’s expectations are managed,” he added.