The government plans to issue what it calls "economic identification cards" for Iranian households to facilitate the execution of its economic projects, says Ahmad Meydari, deputy minister of cooperatives, labor and social welfare.
“The government is facing a big challenge when it comes to the implementation of economic projects, including discontinuing cash payments to the rich or carrying out the Livelihood Assistance Program, and that’s the absence of comprehensive database on the economic status of households. It is highly unlikely to carry out economic reforms without economic ID cards,” he was quoted as saying by Iranian newspaper Shahrvand.
He noted that the project will be aimed at identifying people of modest income.
"This year, about 700 trillion rials [$5.4 billion] were paid to all members of the public, which was a mistake. In other countries, only 30% of the population are eligible to receive such handouts," he said.
According to the Statistical Center of Iran, economic ID cards will provide extensive data on households’ income, the employment status of households members, their assets, including real estate, cars or banking accounts.
The information will be gathered through the banking network, the National Organization for Civil Registration and National Organization for Civil Registration, the Education Ministry and the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare.
It’s almost a decade that Iranian governments started giving cash subsidies to people. The Targeted Subsidies Law of 2010 authorized the reduction of subsidies on food and energy, and instead paid 455,000 rials ($3.5) to each and every Iranian on a monthly basis. The plan has been retained so far, though attempts have been made to narrow down the list of recipients.
A few months ago, the government discontinued monthly payments of cash subsidies to a further 400,000 economically well-off individuals. In doing so, the number of those removed from the list of cash subsidy recipients over the past two months hit 1.1 million.
On Nov. 15, the government got the ball rolling on gasoline price reform, based on which fuel was rationed and prices rose by at least 50%.
Private car owners can now buy 60 liters of subsidized gasoline every month with a fuel card for 15,000 rials [11 cents] per liter, up 50% in prices and additional purchases (maximum 250 liters a month) will cost 30,000 rials (23 cents) per liter.
According to Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, the head of Plan and Budget Organization, all savings from the gas price hike will be granted to 60 million people under the so-called “Livelihood Assistance Program”.
Cash aid under this program will be 550,000 rials ($4.24) for one-person households, 1.03 million rials ($7.95) for two-person families, 1.38 million rials ($10.65) for three-person households, 1.72 million rials ($13.28) for four-person households and 2.05 million rials ($15.83) for households with five or more persons.
This financial assistance will only be provided to seven income deciles; those who fall into the top three income deciles (high-earners) won’t receive a handout, the spokesman of the headquarters associated with identifying eligible applicants for the program, Hossein Mirzaei, told Tasnim News Agency.
