Bloomberg
By Ladane Nasseri
Iran will pare handouts to millions of citizens in its effort to limit spending in the new Iranian year starting late March, state-run and local media reported.
“To overcome economic issues, we need to pay more attention to solving the woes of those in need,” parliamentary official Abdolreza Mesri quoted President Hassan Rouhani as saying, state-run Iranian Students News Agency reported late yesterday.
Under former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, almost all of Iran’s 77 million people started receiving monthly cash payments to offset rising energy and food costs. Rouhani’s government has indicated it wants to introduce eligibility requirements in a bid to help revive an economy battered by sanctions over Iran’s nuclear program and 40 percent inflation. Sanctions were eased recently following a deal with world powers that imposed restrictions on Iran’s nuclear program.
Arsalan Fathipour, the head of parliament’s economy committee, put the estimated number of Iranians in need of the benefits at 15 million, the Shargh newspaper reported today.
Parliament yesterday approved the outlines of the draft budget Rouhani submitted in December, according to the legislature’s news website, which didn’t elaborate on the spending plan’s content.
