TEHRAN – President Rouhani expressed hope on Tuesday that his government would pave the ground for granting budget allocation authorization to some provinces in the near future.

Addressing journalists in the central province of Kerman, Rouhani said, “We believe that granting such authorizations can accelerate implementation of projects and plans.” 

“The country’s Leader has also laid emphasis on granting special credits and authorization to some provinces. We presented the issue to the cabinet of ministers and we hope to be able to grant such special authorizations to some provinces. Kerman might be one of the proposed provinces,” the president explained. 

The Plan and Budget Organization PBO), formerly known as the Management and Planning Organization (MPO), is one of the largest government bodies in Iran. From 1948 until 2007 and again since 2014, it is fully responsible for drafting the country's budget.  

Rouhani says Trump not trustworthy

Rouhani also stressed the need to continue talks with the remaining nuclear deal parties to save the agreement, but he said his American counterpart Donald Trump is not a person to be trusted at all.

"When I was in New York (for the UN General Assembly meeting), relatively good proposals were raised and I could decide there to break the sanctions but the prevailing conditions displayed that we could not trust the U.S. president," Rouhani, according to Fars.

"The U.S. president makes a different decision every day and if another president was ruling the U.S., we could have finished the job late in September; some countries still try to play a mediatory role and make some proposals and we give them some proposals too," he added.

"We have reached an agreement on principles and we have problems on methods for implementation (and) we do not leave the path of negotiations but do not rely just on talks either, and we should make efforts, cooperate and maintain our unity," Rouhani pointed out.

In relevant remarks in September, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei underlined the necessity for the country's interaction with different world states, except Israel and the U.S., and said Washington and the European states which had shown clear animosity towards the Iranian nation should not be trusted.

Elsewhere in his remarks, the president said the country is not in a normal condition due to sanctions.

“We all know that our country is not in normal conditions. A person who is not familiar with budget and economy may say that not selling oil is not very important, but the truth is that these great God-given resources are here for us to use”.

“After the sanctions were lifted because of the JCPOA, many of our oil wells needed to be repaired. In the early 2016, we spent $800 million for repairing these wells, and that year, we had the highest rate of oil sells,” he continued, according to the president.ir.

‘Paying tax is a religious duty’

Stating that paying tax is a religious duty for everybody, Rouhani said, "One must not think that evading tax makes them clever. The Supreme Leader said in a meeting that all authorities must tell people that paying tax is a religious duty”.

He added, “If we were in normal situation, we would sell $60 billion oil a year, but the country needs rials to be managed, and we need to supply that, while 30 percent of the country’s financial resources are supplied through tax”.

Rouhani reiterated, "People must cooperate and pay their taxes, by which they receive services such as security, health and environment".

Stating that people’s purchasing power has declined in the years 1397 and 1398 due to the enemies’ sanctions, the president said, "The government has taken steps to solve the problems, including a 20% increase in salary payment for employees in next year”.

Rouhani emphasized, "We must run the country based on our abilities and capabilities to meet the needs of people's lives".

MJ/PA