Iran: Avenues to Balance Gov’t Budget

The government is struggling to balance its widening budget deficit. 
Ali Sarzaeem, an economic expert in an interview with Persian-language weekly Seda, has expounded on different means the government can employ to do so under US sanctions regime and the economic distress it has created. 
Sarzaeem believes economic reconstruction is what matters most now, which can be applied to a wide range of areas. 
“Redistribution of wealth, i.e. the transfer of income and wealth from the rich to the underprivileged by means of a social mechanism such as taxation, is one of the procedures of undertaking the process of economic reconstruction,” he said.
“The government will face public opposition, no matter what it decides to do to acquire its financial resources. If it opts for economic reconstruction, special groups who might find themselves on the losing end will cry out; if it introduces energy price reforms, more than a few eyebrows will be raised.”