The head of Parliament’s Works and Budget Commission says the administration should reconsider the oil price projections in its next budget.
The Tasnim News Agency reports that according to Esmail Jalili. the projected price of $72 a barrel is too “optimistic” and needs to be reconsidered.
According to Jalili, a figure of $60 a barrel would be a more realistic basis for the budget. He also called on the government to balance the shortfall by increasing tax revenues and selling bonds.
The minister of the economy had said earlier that the budget for the new Iranian calendar year, which starts March 21, was prepared with conservative predictions regarding the price of oil to ensure price fluctuations do not cause too many difficulties for the administration.
Oil prices have fallen to their lowest point in the past five years, and the International Energy Agency has said the decline could threaten big oil-producing countries with “social instability.”
One third of the Iranian government’s budget depends on oil revenues.
The Iranian president has announced that the fall in oil prices should be seen as an opportunity to get serious about reducing the country’s dependence on oil revenues.
