Majlis Approves New Budget

The Majlis, Iranian parliament, today approved the budget for the current Iranian calendar year at 5,666 trillion rials or $462 billion in official exchange rate. The new budget is 11 percent higher than last year’s if calculated in the local currency (5,084 trillion rials last year), but slightly lower if calculated in dollars ($469 billion last year). The difference is due to a 4-percent official devaluation of rial this year.

The percentage of the budgeted revenues from oil exports is not reported. But Iran’s total revenues from oil sales last year were at approximately $73 billion, with another $36 billion in non-oil exports, for a total of $109 billion in hard currency revenues. The figure is expected to be lower this year due to expanding oil-related sanctions. The details of non-export revenues budgeted for the current year were also not available. If the government were forced to print money to meet any budgetary shortfall, however, a rise in already high inflation rate could be expected.