Page 29 - IRANRptSep20

6.0​ Public Sector 6.1​ Budget
Iran’s draft budget skips parliamentary scrutiny as coronavirus means legislature cannot be convened
Iran removes more ‘non-low-income’ citizens from “Subsidies Law” cash handout scheme
Traditional parliamentary scrutiny in Iran of the country’s draft state budget has been skipped in favour of sending it straight to the Guardian Council for approval given that 23 MPs have fallen ill with the coronavirus, the ​Financial Tribune ​daily has reported.
Asadollah Abbasi, spokesman for the presiding board of the parliament, reportedly explained that the virus outbreak meant that, as per Article 85 of the Iranian Constitution, the draft budget for the 2020/2021 Persian calendar year (which commences on March 20) should be moved on to the executive body once it became clear the legislature could not be convened.
The 12-member Guardian Council—made up of Islamic Law experts selected by the supreme leader of Iran and six jurists selected by the parliament from among jurists proposed by the head of the Judiciary—has 20 days to review the budget bill from March 3, according to Abbasali Kadkhodaei, its spokesman.
The draft budget as it stands does not take into account the loss of income to the state from the closure of businesses in the country caused by the coronavirus epidemic.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) estimated in April that Iran could hit a budget deficit of nearly 10% this year from a 5.7% deficit in 2019.
The Iranian government has removed another 400,000 citizens from the monthly cash-handout “Subsidies Law” scheme introduced by the Ahmadinejad administration eight years ago, ILNA reported.
The scheme pays out the equivalent of around €3.50 (at the unofficial exchange rate) to people deemed to be on low incomes to help with utility bill payments. However, there has been a lot of debate over whether many recipients cannot be objectively described as “low-income”. At the same time, the government’s budget is under severe pressure, thus officials are looking to make cuts that will not translate into substantial social pressure.
The past couple of months have seen the officials remove 1.1mn people from
29​ IRAN Country Report September 2020 www.intellinews.com