TEHRAN - Iranian parliament’s ad hoc budget review committee on Tuesday evening approved the general outlines of the national budget bill for the next Iranian calendar year 1400, which starts on March 21, 2021.

The committee will start investigating the details of the bill from Saturday.

Mohammad-Baqer Nobakht, the head of Planning and Budget Organization (PBO), has said that the budget bill has been prepared based on realistic approaches.

On December 2, Vice President for Parliamentary Affairs Hossein-Ali Amiri submitted the administration’s draft of the national budget bill for the next year to the Majlis (Iranian parliament).

The proposed budget amounted to about 24.357 quadrillion rials (about $579.928 billion at the official rate of 42,000 rials), with a 20-percent rise from the current year’s approved budget.

The bill has envisaged public resources and expenditures, the budget of state-owned companies as well as the budget for various government bodies.

Supplying basic goods, treatment, and medical equipment; securing livelihood; supporting production and employment; promoting and supporting non-oil exports and knowledge-based companies are the focal points of the bill.

The bill has estimated the government’s budget at 9.298 quadrillion rials (about $221.38 billion), with an increase of 47 percent from the figure of the current year.

It has envisaged 3.175 quadrillion rials (about $75.595 billion) of incomes, while 6.37 quadrillion rials (about $151.666 billion) of expenses.

Revenues from exporting oil, gas and gas condensate are estimated at 1.199 quadrillion rials (about $10.83 billion), up 323 percent from 454.9 trillion rials (about $10.83 billion), approved in the current year’s budget.

The bill estimates the oil presales of 700 trillion rials (about $16.666 billion).

The Oil Ministry will be authorized to issue $3 billion in Islamic oil bonds.

Like the current year’s budget, the next year’s proposed budget requires the government to pay 20 percent of its oil, gas, and gas condensate revenues to National Development Fund (NDF).

The submitted bill has envisaged allocation of €100 million from the NDF reserves to the implementation of projects for drinking-water supply to the rural areas.

It has also allocated 15 trillion rials (about $357 million) to supplying gas to the rural regions and completing the semi-finished gas-supply projects.

The bill has allocated 50 trillion rials (about $1.19 billion) to the competition of housing projects.

Tax incomes are predicted to be 2.47 quadrillion rials (about $58.809 billion), rising from 1.95 quadrillion rials (about $46.42 billion) envisaged in the present year’s budget.

MA/MA