14 Trillion Toman Financial Turnover of Hajj Pilgrimage

Iranian and Saudi sources have reported that this year, 87,550 quotas have been allocated for Iranian pilgrims for the Hajj pilgrimage. This figure is more than double the number of pilgrims from last year and 20% higher than the annual average of Iranian pilgrims. The average number of Iranian pilgrims from 2011 to 2023 (excluding 2016 due to the severance of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia and the years 2020 and 2021 due to the suspension of Hajj because of the COVID-19 pandemic) has been about 74,000 individuals. Research from the Open Data Iran database indicates that alongside the increase in the number of Iranian pilgrims, the financial turnover of the Hajj pilgrimage has reached 14 trillion tomans, which is primarily dominated by two governmental entities: the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization and the Leader's Office, with at least the financial structure of the Leader's Office being completely opaque. The financial turnover of the Hajj market includes registration fees (over 12 trillion tomans), currency provision costs (between 1,830 billion tomans considering the organized market dollar price to 2,188 billion tomans in the free market), and the government’s dedicated budget for Hajj and pilgrimage (including 33.8 billion tomans for the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization and 15.1 billion tomans for the Leader's Office), estimated to be between 13,800 billion to 14,200 billion tomans in total. Calculations from the Open Data Iran database also show that between 2012 and 2023, a total of 154 billion tomans from public budget resources have been allocated to the Hajj and Pilgrimage Organization and the Leader's Office, which, accounting for inflation over the past 12 years, would be equivalent to 495 billion tomans (and considering the free market dollar price, approximately 16 million dollars). Iran's share of the Hajj pilgrimage is between 2.2% to 3.4% of the total pilgrims and is expected to increase following the improvement of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Improvement in services for Iranian pilgrims follows the thawing of relations between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Direct flights for Israeli Muslim pilgrims to Saudi Arabia; perhaps another time. Easing of COVID-19 restrictions; permission for one million people to attend the Hajj has been issued.