The government earned 1,920 trillion rials ($7.68 billion) from taxation, customs duties and resources entitled “miscellaneous income” during the nine months to Dec. 20, 2020, which is 88% of the projected figure in the budget law for the period.
According to a report by Fars News Agency, nine-month income from the transfer of capital assets, which consists of several sections such as the export of petroleum products, natural gas and gas condensates was less than 10% of the budgetary estimate for the period, i.e., 75.21 trillion rials ($300 million).
The earnings from the transfer of financial assets, including sales of treasury bonds, stood at 1,715 trillion rials, constituting 130% of the budgetary estimate for the nine months.
The government’ aggregate resources during the period stood at 3,713 trillion rials, which is 86% of the budgetary estimate.
On the side of expenditure, the government’s operating expenses, including compensation of public employees, stood at 3,117 trillion rials ($12.46 billion) during the period under review, i.e., 94.6% of the figure projected in the budget.
Capital expenditure (spending on development projects) hovered around 586 trillion rials, which is 88.2% of the budget’s projected figure for the nine-month period.
The government spent 320.43 trillion rials ($1.28 billion) on financial assets, including buying back debts and bonds’ interest payment, which was 90.2% of the budget’s estimated figure for the period.
Overall expenditure stood around 4,024 trillion rials ($16 billion), which is 93.2% of the projected sum.
The government will submit a new budget bill for the upcoming fiscal year (March 2021-22) to the Iranian Parliament, also known as Majlis. According to the Iranian president’s chief of staff, Mahmoud Vaezi, the government’s decision to accede to Majlis demand was taken based on promoting interaction and compromise, and not harming the public interest.
The parliament’s work on the fiscal 2021-22 budget bill began amid increasing tensions between lawmakers and the government; each fundamental change in the bill by Majlis Joint Commission—a body comprising representatives of all parliamentary commissions responsible for reviewing budget bills as well as five-year development plans proposed by the government before they are put to a vote by MPs—was mat with the criticism of the government and President Hassan Rouhani.
These disputes reached their peak earlier this month, when the parliamentarians rejected the outlines of the budget and returned it to the government.
The move was the beginning of a serious legal challenge: it’s not clear whether the lawmakers cast their vote against the government’s version of the bill or against the draft prepared by the Joint Commission. Parliament Speaker Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf says the former proposition is true, but according to the precedent rule and standards as well as the parliament’s internal bylaw, the latter proposition appears to be true, hence the government announced that it is not obliged to submit a revised budget.
The parliament, on the other hand, said it will have to put together a monthly appropriation bill (1/12 of the money in budgetary accounts for one month) if the government fails to hand in a new bill within two weeks.
