Nobakht: We Have Saved 27 Trillion Tomans in Next Year's Budget

While the head of Iran's Planning and Budget Organization states that 27 trillion tomans will be saved in the budget of executive agencies next year, the president of Amirkabir University reported that the budget for this university is 'insufficient' and there is a possibility of reducing 'educational and nutritional' expenses. Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, head of the Planning and Budget Organization, on Wednesday referred to the 27 billion dollars in oil revenue for the current year's budget and announced a 28% reduction in next year's budget to 21 billion dollars. According to him, for this reason, '27 trillion tomans will be saved in the budget of executive agencies next year.' As Nobakht stated, the 1398 budget was drafted based on 'sanction conditions,' and thus 'we have projected 1 million and 500 thousand barrels of oil resources for next year, compared to 2 million and 410 thousand barrels this year.' The head of the Planning and Budget Organization also commented on the sixth development plan, stating that this plan was 'drafted for non-sanction conditions, while we are under sanctions.' Nobakht also reported an 11% growth in tax revenues in next year's budget and added, 'The share of taxes in the gross national product this year is 5.6% and next year it will be 5%.' This senior official of Hassan Rouhani's government emphasized that the government does not have a plan to increase energy carrier prices in the 1398 budget, 'but there is a serious demand from the government to increase this price to reduce fuel smuggling.' With the United States' withdrawal from the JCPOA and the re-imposition of sanctions against the Islamic Republic, Iran's oil sales, which are the main source of the country's revenues, have significantly decreased. American officials have repeatedly stated that they are trying to increase pressure on the Iranian government to change its behavior by reducing the country's oil sales to zero. The impact of the return of sanctions, which became evident with the rising dollar and other goods prices, is also reflected in the budget presented by Hassan Rouhani's government to the parliament for 1398. Since the budget was presented to the parliament yesterday and its generalities were published, some Hezbollah forces on social media have criticized the budget allocated for cultural-religious and military institutions. These criticisms come at a time when officials of the Islamic Republic and Hezbollah activists have repeatedly claimed that U.S. sanctions have no effect on the Iranian people and that they endure the pressures and do not yield to U.S. demands. Meanwhile, Ahmad Motamedi, the president of Amirkabir University, reported the 'insufficiency' of the 1398 budget for this university. Mr. Motamedi stated, 'If the budget growth is not based on salary increases, it definitely means that we have to cut from other research, educational, and nutritional expenses.' According to him, 'apparently the 1398 budget for this university has increased by 14 to 15% compared to last year, although this amount may change at any moment.' The president of Amirkabir University deemed a 20% salary increase for professors and staff of this university with a 15% budget increase for this center as impossible and said, 'We are already struggling to run the university.' He emphasized, 'If the budget growth is not based on salary increases, it definitely means that we have to cut from other research, educational, and nutritional expenses; this situation is no longer feasible for universities, and we will face many problems.' According to the generalities of the budget bill, the government has predicted revenues from oil and petroleum products to be close to 143 trillion tomans. Meanwhile, the government must obtain this revenue based on the price of each barrel of oil in the market, the average daily sales of this commodity, and the exchange rate of the dollar to the rial, which can practically provide a figure lower than the predicted revenue.