Have-Nots to Receive More Cash Subsidies

The government’s monthly grant of cash subsidies to families and individuals with limited resources who receive aid from the State Welfare Organization and Imam Khomeini Relief Committee will rise in accordance with the budget law, a statement by the Organization of Targeted Subsidies reads.

On Monday, President Hassan Rouhani responded to a question by Financial Tribune’s sister publication Donya-e-Eqtesad on welfare policies, including cash subsidies payments if elected for a second term, and said the less privileged strata should have a bigger share of subsidies.

As part of “Subsidy Reform Plan”, the administration of former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, removed subsidies on food and energy in 2010 and instead paid 455,000 rials ($11.9) to all Iranians on a monthly basis.

The administration of President Rouhani has kept the plan it inherited from the previous government, albeit reluctantly amid financial constraints exacerbated by plummeting oil revenues.

Nonetheless, the incumbent government has moved to restrict the number of cash subsidy recipients slowly but steadily.

According to Government Spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, more than 4.85 million people have been removed from the list of cash subsidy recipients as of January 20.