TEHRAN - The head of Iran’s Planning and Budget Organization (PBO) has said his organization is considering $40 oil for preparing the national budget bill for the next Iranian calendar year (starts on March 21, 2021), IRNA reported.

"We have not yet determined the oil price based on which the budget will be set, but the initial estimation is around $40 a barrel," Mohammad-Baqer Nobakht said.

Addressing the press after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Nobakht announced the approval of the budget for the next Iranian calendar year 1400 by the government and added: the budget bill will be submitted to the parliament within the legal deadline and before December 5.

The bill will be prepared based on the U.S. dollar exchange rate at 110,000-115,000 rials, he said.

The budget resources for the next year will be supplied from oil, taxation, and issuance of government bonds, Nobakht explained.

“Regarding the oil revenues, the ceiling will be set considering the amounts that we will be able to export in optimal circumstances and also considering the amount of exports we have had in the current year,” he said.

According to the official, any surplus revenues earned in this area will not be spent on current expenses but will be used for development projects, urban transportation, e-government development, strengthening knowledge-based companies, and strengthening the health transformation plan.

He further noted that the country's tax capacity allows the government to move toward tax incomes instead of relying on oil revenues in the budget.

President Hassan Rouhani has said that the main goal of the national budget bill for the next year is to downsize the government and cut the direct dependence on oil incomes.

Speaking in a session of the Resistance Economy Headquarters last week, the president said that the next year’s budget bill will be drafted within the framework of the general program of reforming the budget structure and general policies of the resistance economy, Shana reported.

“The main goal of the 1400 budget is to reduce costs, increase revenues, downsize the government, develop e-government, cut the direct budget dependence on oil, pick up and surge in production, and the implementation of the general policies of the resistance economy”, Rouhani further noted.

EF/MA