Guardian Council approves Iran budget bill

Iran's Guardian Council has approved the budget for the next Iranian calendar year which allows the Iranian president to go ahead with his plan to cut costly state subsidies.

The budget bill was approved by the Iranian Parliament last week before being sent to the Guardian Council, whose approval is needed for the bill to become law.

President Ahmadinejad had proposed saving $40 billion by eliminating subsidies but the Parliament approved only half of that amount.

“The Guardian Council has reviewed the modifications on next year's budget bill sent by Parliament,” said Abbas Ali Kadkhodaei, spokesman for the top legislative watchdog.

“It was approved by the Council and sent back to parliament to submit to the government for implementation.”

Based on the $347-billion budget, the government plans to start a major plan to scrap costly subsidies on energy and goods, reducing government expenditure.

The budget for next year, which begins on March 21, includes plans to phase out subsidies on food and energy which analysts believe will stoke up the inflation that currently stands at 8.9 percent.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=120953§ionid=351020102.