The Court of Audit Reports One Third of the 2023 Budget Provisions Were Not Implemented

The Court of Audit of the country announced in a report that its investigations from the budget execution report for the year 2023 show that only 77% of the total provisions of the budget law were executed either 'incomplete' or 'complete'. 'Budget execution' refers to the examination of the government's financial performance in accordance with the approved budget law. The report states that 117 provisions, equivalent to 26%, were 'fully' complied with, 91 provisions, equivalent to 20%, were 'partially' complied with, 187 provisions, equivalent to 42%, were 'partially complied with', and 52 provisions, equivalent to 12%, had 'no performance'. Accordingly, the Court of Audit, which is an institution affiliated with the Parliament, announced that one third of the provisions of the 2023 budget had no performance and were not complied with. Ahmadreza Dashtgheib, the head of the Court of Audit, previously read the budget execution report in the open session of the Parliament and stated that 80% of the losses of companies were related to six companies. Dashtgheib emphasized that the relationship between oil and the budget has many ambiguities and a lack of transparency. It is noteworthy that in recent years, governments have accounted for part of the budget of military institutions and the IRGC by allocating oil for direct sale by them, and no report has been published regarding the reasons, methods of allocation, sales, and expenses incurred. The report also mentions the ongoing protests of retired educators in Yazd, the continuation of the health crisis in Iran with the removal of preferential currency for medicine under the government of Medicalian, and an admission by a state media outlet that workers' wages do not even cover half of their expenses. The lowest-income segment of Iranian society has been bearing the most pressure from monthly inflation.