TEHRAN – The head of Iran’s Planning and Budget Organization (PBO) has said his organization is going to change the structure of the next fiscal year’s national budget for the better, following the guidelines of the Leader of the Islamic Revolution Seyyed Ali Khamenei on the matter.

Speaking in the first meeting of the heads of provincial Planning and Budget Departments, which was held online, Masoud Mirkazemi said: “The Leader emphasizes on changing the structure of the budget bill and making it more effective, therefore, it is not in the interest of the country to continue the current trend, and the budget structure should be reviewed.”

“The budget shapes the economy and guarantees the country’s great goals,” he added.

The official noted that PBO is also preparing the country’s Seventh National Development Plan, saying: "Change is a necessity and it must be wise and systematic."

Mirkazemi further noted that the main emphasis in the preparation of the next year’s budget bill will be on achieving economic growth.

“We determine the share of each sector in the budget and allocate them resources so that it will be easier for the government to monitor their performance and ensure the realization of the country’s economic goals,” he explained.

Noting that the country's first priority is to reform the structure of the economy the official continued: “We must move in a way that reduces the pressure on people's lives. We need to improve people’s livelihood by making our resources more efficient.”

In recent years, Iran’s national budget bill has been criticized repeatedly for being unrealistic and every year the government has been facing a huge budget deficit which is said to be a result of a defective budget structure.

Back in August, the Head of the Iranian Parliament’s Economic Committee said the country could face up to three quadrillion rials (about $71.4 billion) of budget deficit in the current Iranian calendar year (ends on March 21, 2022).

“There is a concern that the budget deficit at the end of the year reaches 250,000 to 300,000 billion tomans (2.5-3 quadrillion rials) and we should think of arrangements to manage this deficit,” Mohammadreza Pour-Ebrahimi said in an interview with state TV on August 22.

EF/MA