NDFI Revenues to Be Hiked

The parliament voted to raise Iran’s sovereign wealth fund’s share of petroleum revenues to 30% for the sixth five-year development plan (2016-21), up from the previous 20%.

Based on the bill, the National Development Fund’s share of Iran’s crude oil, natural gas and condensate sales will increase a minimum of two percentage points each year until the end of the plan.

This annual increase was also part of the previous five-year plan but neither former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nor the incumbent President Hassan Rouhani implemented it.

Iran is estimated to possess a tenth of the world’s proven oil reserves and over 15% of its proven gas reserves. Managing the revenues earned from these resources and its pitfalls efficiently has been a challenge no Iranian government has yet mastered.

Just as the previous five-year plan, the National Iranian Oil Company will receive 14.5% of petroleum revenues and a 3% will go to the provinces with the oil and gas reserves to combat poverty.

In the Sixth Plan, if the government’s take from petroleum falls below 830 trillion rials ($20 billion at market exchange rate), adjusted for inflation, the government can take the shortfall from foreign exchange reserves or borrow through bonds.