Cash-strapped Iran gives ministries less than half
their budgets
TEHRAN, Jan 10 (AFP) - Iranian ministries have received less than
half their nominal budgets this year as government revenues continue to
plummet because of low oil prices, the official news agency IRNA reported
Sunday.
"The government has been able to allocate between 40 and 45 percent
of the budget earmarked for ministries and state organisations,"
said parliamentary speaker Ali Akbar Nateq-Nuri, quoted by the official
IRNA news agency.
Nateq-Nuri said during Sunday's parliamentary session that the government
is facing extreme pressure due to the collapse in oil prices, which have
reached 12-year lows.
Iran -- which is OPEC's second-largest oil producer and earns 80 percent
of its hard currency from crude exports -- has seen revenues fall off
by 40 percent, leaving a budget shortfall this year of some 6.3 billion
dollars.
President Mohammad Khatami has called for various measures to reduce
the nation's dependence on oil revenues, including more efficient tax
collection and an increase in non-oil exports.
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