TEHRAN (PIN) – Majlis (Iran’s parliament) speaker here Tuesday said gasoline rationing was one of the manifestations of Supreme Leader’s guidelines on prevention of extravagance and lavish consumption.

Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel made the statement in a news conference, adding, “Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei) dismissed prodigality as a national fault and urged people and officials to prevent it.
“To me, the rationing of gasoline is one of the manifestations of Supreme Leader’s decree that was welcomed by people as a sociocultural discipline.”
The Islamic Consultative Assembly speaker said if the cabinet submitted a bill on budget deficit and gasoline imports to Majlis, the lawmakers would study it according to the plan and budget law.
He added consumption of the commodity dropped 20 percent after the enforcement of the rationing plan.
Haddad-Adel said supply of gasoline at open market rate would cause inflation and public dissatisfaction.
Iran began rationing gasoline from June 22 and the Petroleum Ministry has allocated each private car 100 liters per month at about 10 cents per liter for regular and 15 cents for premium gasoline.
Under the plan, gasoline is only supplied through smart card, an initiative taken by President Mahmud Ahmadinejad to stop lavish fuel consumption by over seven million cars nationwide.
Gasoline rationing would help the government save over three billion dollars until March, Petroleum Ministry’s director for international affairs said.
Hojatollah Ghanimifard added that gasoline consumption had currently reached 15 million liters per day from 35-36 million liters per day before the rationing plan came into effect in June.
The Islamic Republic spent about seven billion dollars annually on gasoline imports, he said, adding the figure would be decreased to four billion dollars in the near future.