On Sunday April 10, Iranian Parliament ratified the budget for the new Iranian calendar year beginning March 21, with 135 voting in favour, 37 against and six abstaining.
The parliamentary report concludes that three-quarters of the budget is unchanged from the preceding year.
One of the differences is a 12-percent reduction in the share of oil and gas revenues apportioned to the National Development Fund, based on an oil price of $40 per barrel.
The budget also eliminates the subsidy-restructuring benefits paid to 30 percent of recipients on the basis of high income, which frees up an extra five trillion toumans for the budget.
The administration was tardy in presenting the budget to Parliament, which means that prior to the new calendar year, MPs could only approve a preliminary budget for just the first two months. The approval of the complete package was left for now.
The Rohani administration has been hard at work trying to compensate for declining government revenues caused by the fall in international oil prices.
