Gov’t: Tripling Cash Subsidies to the Poor Possible

Government Spokesman Mohammad Baqer Nobakht believes it is possible to triple cash subsidies paid to the poor.

Noting that the government has raised cash payments to the less-privileged from an average of 710,000 rials ($19) to 2.4 million rials ($64) since the Iranian month of Farvardin (March 21-April 20), Nobakht added that revenues generated by the “Subsidy Reform Plan” are enough to pay for another increase next year without increasing energy prices, Bourse Press reported.

According to the official, currently there are up to 15 million individuals covered by State Welfare Organization and Imam Khomeini Relief Committee while the government pays 75 million Iranians cash handouts.

As part of the “Subsidy Reform Plan”, the administration of former president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, removed subsidies on food and energy, and instead paid 450,000 rials ($11.9) to almost all Iranians on a monthly basis.

The payments have remained the same since it was established in 2010, although more than 3 million in the high-income deciles have been removed from the subsidy list.