TEHRAN – Head of Iran’s Planning and Budget Organization (PBO) said the government has managed to save 310 trillion rials (about $7.38 billion) during the first eight months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-November 20) by reducing the expenditures set in this year’s national budget law.

Briefing the press on the details of the current year’s national budget law, on Saturday, Mohammad-Baqer Nobakht said: “According to the budget law, we were allowed to spend 5.71 quadrillion rials (about $135 billion), of which 3.84 quadrillion rials (about $91.4 billion) was the share of the first eight months. However, during this period 3.53 quadrillion rials (about $84 billion) was withdrawn from the treasury which is 310 trillion rials less than the expected figure.”

“So far 3.34 quadrillion rials (about $79.5 billion) of the resources for the first eight months of the year have been deposited according to the treasury report,” Nobakht added.

The expenditures in the first eight months of the current calendar year have increased by 39 percent compared to the figure for the same period in the previous year, the official explained.

The head of the Planning and Budget Organization stated that the government's policy was to spend less in the face of limited resources, and in fact to allocate the amount of savings to the salaries and benefits of employees and the people in order to improve their livelihood.

He finally mentioned the estimations for the oil sales in the next year (starts on March 21, 2021) and said: “We have determined a floor and a ceiling for the next year’s oil sales, the minimum figure in the current situation has been one million barrels and the ceiling that we are likely to achieve is 2.3 million barrel. So we have prepared the next year’s budget bill based on the sales of one to 2.3 million barrels of oil.”

ILNA also quoted Nobakht as saying that Iran would be able to increase the level of oil exports to 4.6 million barrels if the U.S. sanctions on the oil industry are removed.

EF/MA