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Iran seeks double income from exports to neighbors next year
Monday, 25 November 2019 3:07 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 25 November 2019 3:37 PM ]
Head of Iran’s Plan and Budget Organization Mohammad Bagher Nobakht
Iranian government officials say revenues generated from exports of various products excluding crude would double in the next Iranian calendar year beginning in late March.
A senior deputy to President Hassan Rouhani said on Monday that non-oil exports to 15 neighboring and near countries should reach $48 billion next year.
Mohammad Bagher Nobakht said hitting the target was necessary given Iran’s urgent need to new foreign currency revenues as normal crude sale have been affected by American sanctions.
Nobakht, who head Iran’s Plan and Budget Organization, said that Iran had been effectively deprived of around $50 billion a year in oil sales income, adding that non-oil exports should compensate for that loss.
“Based on the targets set, we (have to) bring the non-oil exports to $48 billion from the $24-billion that we currently have,” he said, adding that setting the target had been agreed earlier in the day in a meeting involving high-profile government officials.
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Iran has been under a series of US sanctions since last year when Washington unilaterally withdrew from an international agreement on Tehran’s nuclear program.
The sanctions have specifically targeted the sale of oil as the United States seeks to force Iran to change its position on key foreign policy and security issues.
Authorities in Tehran admit that sanctions have affected Iran’s exports although they insist the bans have caused a boom in other sectors of the economy.
Bulk of Iran’s non-oil exports, especially those shipped to 15 neighboring and near countries, consists of petrochemical products derived from oil.
The new target set for exports mainly relies on a massive expansion of Iran’s petrochemical sector over the past few years. Authorities said in September that petchem exports would increase nine-fold to reach $93 billion in 2025.
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Oil sales to account for %7 of Iran’s revenues next year
Tuesday, 26 November 2019 6:10 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 26 November 2019 6:41 PM ]
File photo shows a view to the headquarters of Iran's Plan and Budget Organization.
Iran’s oil sale, once a staple of the country’s yearly budgets, would account for a tiny portion of government's projected revenues in the next Persian calendar year beginning in late March.
Head of Iran's Plan and Budget Organization (PBO) Mohammad Bagher Nobakht said on Tuesday the government eyes to generate $10-12 billion from direct sale of oil next year.
That would mean that just over seven percent of Iran’s $155-billion budget would be dependent on crude exports compared to nearly $50 billion pocketed annually from oil sales over the past few years.
Reports on Tuesday suggested, however, that the government projections for oil exports, as stipulated in a bill that would be submitted to the parliament next month, could exceed $15 billion.
A study of the main terms of the budget bill by the Fars news agency showed that the total oil sale projections for next year was a maximum of 870,000 barrels per day at a fixed price of $50 per barrel.
Iran seeks double income from exports to neighbors next year
Iran says revenues from non-oil exports to neighbors would double next year.
The report said meager share of oil exports in next year’s budget showed that the government no longer relies on crude as a major source of revenue and instead uses oil income as a backup for covering a potential budget deficit.
Experts believe Iran’s next year budget would be the least-dependent on oil in the history of the country as the government grapples with the impacts of American sanctions on its direct sale of oil.
The budget bill that will go the parliament on December 6, 2019, includes spending and revenues for both the government and a total of 382 state-run companies.
The Fars news agency said that government revenues, which form the base for spending and expenditures, would amount to 4,200 trillion rials ($35 billion), including taxation and oil exports.
Government companies are also expected to generate a total of 14,400 trillion rials ($120 billion), of which around a fourth will go to construction projects and creating jobs, according to PBO’s Nobakht, who serves as a senior deputy to Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.
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Nobakht said on Tuesday that the government will pay nearly $5.5 billion in direct cash handouts next year, adding that the total subsidies granted to the households would top $15.5 billion.
He had said on Monday that exports of various products excluding crude would hit a value target of $48 billion next year to compensate for the losses created in direct oil sales.