A Government Official: The Real Budget Deficit of Iran Last Year Was Approximately 800 Trillion Tomans

The Deputy of the Planning and Budget Organization of the Islamic Republic government announced that the 'real deficit' of the budget in the year 1401 was approximately '794 trillion tomans', nearly double the previously published figures by some close figures to the cabinet of Ebrahim Raisi. Rahim Mombini, the Deputy of the Planning and Budget Organization, stated in a meeting on the sidelines of the introduction of the 'Seventh Development Plan Document' that the 'general deficit' of the budget was about '304 trillion tomans' last year. He noted that the 'targeted subsidy deficit' was around '190 trillion tomans' and the government's commitments for the year 1401 to social security and banks were about '300 trillion tomans', adding that therefore the 'real budget deficit' last year was about '794 trillion tomans'. The Research Center of the Islamic Consultative Assembly had predicted last year that the budget for 1401 would have a deficit of about '300 trillion tomans' by the end of the year, and economic experts and political figures close to the Islamic Republic government estimated this amount to be 'at most 400 trillion tomans'. On the same days, on February 14, 1401, Mohammad Reza Pourabrahimi, the head of the Economic Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly, spoke of an operational budget deficit of about '400 trillion tomans'. These figures were repeatedly denied by the head of the Planning and Budget Organization at the time, who was removed from this position at the beginning of this year. Each 'thousand trillion tomans' in budget-related amounts and financial documents is abbreviated as one 'hemt'. The International Monetary Fund announced on May 3 that Iran would need 'oil at $352' to avoid its budget deficit this year and 'oil at $375' for the next calendar year, while Brent oil is currently around '70 dollars' in global markets. A budget deficit arises in a country's economic structure when the economic authority, such as the government, spends or incurs costs beyond its current income or assets, which can have significant detrimental effects on the private sector, markets, and society. In this context, Hassan Mansour, an economic analyst, told the Persian section of Voice of America that the Islamic Republic government first announces revenues as 'high' and then withdraws the budget deficit from the 'foreign exchange reserve fund'. A member of parliament mentioned the 'possibility of manipulation' of inflation statistics by the central bank and called for the intervention of 'independent institutions'. Some members of parliament requested from Khamenei to 'determine the fate' of the supervisory board of the Expediency Discernment Council. An analytical report stated that the annual cost of enforcing hijab is equivalent to the wages of millions of workers in Iran. The billion-dollar budget that must be consumed; the Supreme Cultural Revolution Council is looking to establish a 'headquarters'. The continued decline of indicators in the Tehran Stock Exchange indicates a 'serious constraint' for the government in securing the budget.