The parliament on Sunday approved the outlines of the budget bill proposed by President Hassan Rouhani's administration for the next Iranian year, which begins March 21.
Out of the total 218 parliament members present in the session, 152 voted in favor of the bill, 43 voted against and the remaining abstained, ISNA reported.
As part of the parliamentary procedure, ten MPs spoke in defense of the bill and ten against during Sunday's morning and afternoon sessions.
Government spokesperson and head of vice presidency for strategic planning and supervision, Mohammad Bagher Nobakht and the head of parliament's joint budget committee, Mohammad Mehdi Mofatteh defended the bill.
At the end of the debate, Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani asked the lawmakers to vote on the proposed budget bill and the majority of MPs voted yes.
In the end, Larijani thanked the joint budget committee and other parliamentary committees for their efforts.
President Hassan Rouhani presented the proposed budget bill to the parliament on December 7. The overall state budget for the next Iranian year amounts to 8,379 trillion rials ($304 billion at the official exchange rate of 27,500 rials to US dollar).
