President Hassan Rouhani submits the budget bill for the next fiscal year (starting March 21) to the parliament on Sunday, with only a one-day delay from Dec. 6, set by lawmakers as a deadline for budget submission each year.
The 2,196 trillion rial (nearly $81.6 billion at official exchange rate) budget shows 80 trillion rials growth compared to the current budget, government officials say.
After several years that the previous administration submitted the bill with a long delay, the Rouhani administration managed for the second consecutive year to present the budget on time, providing legislators sufficient time to examine the bill.
The budget allocated to 470 national and provincial capital projects stands at 461 trillion rials ($17.1 billion).
The administration considered 17 new approaches in the bill seeking to implement the economic policies initiated by Leader Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei, known as resistance economy; ease foreign policy tensions; manage government's debts; continue with implementation of the Subsidy Reform Plan; reduce inflation; and improve people’s purchasing power and social welfare, said Mohamamd Bagher Nobakht, the vice president for planning and strategic supervision, IRNA reported on Saturday.
Earlier, Ali Tayebnia, the minister of economic affairs and finance, said the budget bill was prepared on the assumption that sanctions against Iran will not be lifted.
The government has suggested $70 for oil price in the next budget, $30 less than that in the current budget. The decision came after oil price in international markets fell to below $70 in recent days. In the new budget bill, the salaries of government's employees is planned to rise by 17 percent, Gholamreza Kaateb, a member of planning and budget commission said. The bill providing a detailed projection of all government's income and expenditures has been prepared by the office of the vice president for planning and strategic supervision in line with the general policies set in the next five-year economic development plan.
The integration committee of the parliament has at least 35 days to approve the budget bill before sending it to the floor for final vote. When ratified, the bill will go to the Guardian Council, the body in charge of ascertaining the constitutional and Islamic nature of all laws, to be endorsed.
