Page 28 - IRANRptMar20

The number of smokers in Iran is not known, while the government also does not have figures on those smoking smuggled cigarettes or on how much tax it loses because of this illicit part of the market.
The tax office and police have stepped up efforts to clamp down on the import and distribution of smuggled and counterfeit cigarettes in the past year.
The increase in revenues over the past year is partly seen as stemming from efforts made to stop smuggled cigarettes coming into the country via routes running from the United Arab Emirates, Iraq and South Caucasus region. Some estimates show that 40% of all cigarettes smoked in Iran are smuggled into the country from these neighbouring countries.
6.1.2​ Budget dynamics - funding, privatisation
Iran asks Russia for additional $2bn loan for power, rail and subway carriage projects
Iran aims to privatise 600 companies in current Persian year
Iran has asked Russia to provide an additional $2bn loan for projects including the construction of thermal power plants, hydroelectric power plants, railroads and subway carriages, Russian Energy Minister Alexander Novak was quoted as saying by media outlets in Russia on November 23.
“They’re asking for about $2 billion... They say they were promised $5 billion in 2015... We had loans allocated to them, they ask us to bring the total amount up to $5 billion,” Novak said, without elaborating.
Iranian Energy Minister Reza Aradakanian would be content with an initial $2bn advance, according to Kommersant.
The Iranian parliament has previously given its asset to the government to take a loan from Russia in the amount of $5bn. Russia agreed to a plan to provide a $5bn loan to Iran for joint infrastructure projects in October 2015, when Novak travelled to Tehran.
The head of the Iranian Privatisation Organisation (IPO) has announced that some 600 companies are to be fully or partially sold to private buyers in the 2019/2020 Persian calendar year (started March 21), IBENA reported on April 28.
The Rouhani administration is under growing pressure to allow more assets on to the market at a faster rate so that capital can move from the roiled currency markets and back into the local economy. With the Iranian rial (IRR) severely weakened by the US sanctions assault on Iran’s economy and Washington to launch its attempt at fully shutting down Iran’s oil exports on May 2, the government is under heightened pressure to increase efforts to deliver liquidity.
IPO director Mir Ali Ashraf Abdollah Pouri-Hosseini said that of the current block of companies to go up for sale, all the shares would be available to buyers except for 20% in each case, except where otherwise stated. However, it will be an uphill struggle to sell majority stakes in so many businesses, with Pouri-Hosseini noting that across six months of the previous calendar year, only 55 companies were privatised.
“If we can privatise double or triple this amount, still there would be many companies for sale,” he added.
On April 22, the IPO said 13.36% of Transfo Co., a local electrical transformers
28​ IRAN Country Report​ March 2020 www.intellinews.com