TEHRAN – Deputy Parliament speaker Mohammad-Reza Bahonar has commented that the joint Majlis-government committee has succeeded to reach a consensus on the subsidy reform plan.

“We have achieved good results, and we hope that the problems will be resolved quickly and the ambiguities will be cleared up in order to make the implementation of the plan possible,” he told ISNA news agency on Monday.
However, Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moqaddam, an MP sitting on the joint committee, said there has been no agreement between the Majlis and the government on the subsidy plan, insisting that the MPs called on the administration to present its proposal for making amendments to the law.
Mesbahi-Moqaddam said the administration can not halt the implementation of the subsidy reform law without the permission of the Majlis.
The administration has said that it will not implement the parliamentary ratification on the subsidy plan because it will not be able to compensate low-income families for the inflationary effects of the plan unless the parliament doubles the revenues from the subsidy elimination savings from $20 billion to $40 billion.
On the other hand, most of the MPs believe that the approved plan will minimize the inflationary pressure on the people.
“The administration does not have the right to freeze the law,” Mesbahi-Moqaddam, who headed the special parliamentary committee on the subsidy reform plan, told the Mehr New Agency.
The MP went on to say that “the best option for the administration is to start implementing the (approved) plan and (then) present a bill for amending the law.”
He added the administration should not waste the time anymore.
On Sunday, Mesbahi-Moqaddam said the Majlis may ask question from president on freezing the subsidy reform plan.
Subsidy reform cut will ‘fail’ if $40b revenues not realized
On the part of the administration, Iraj Nadimi, an advisor to the vice president for parliamentary affairs, said the implementation of the reform plan will “fail” if the funds that the administration has demanded are not provided.
The administration maintains that the allocated funds are not enough to minimize the repercussions of the subsidy eliminations, he added.
After the conflict over the subsidy reform plan heated up, the administration and Majlis set up the joint committee to find a way to end the deadlock.