Oil price falls not to affect Iran budget

Spokesman for the Iranian administration, Mohammad-Baqer Nobakht, says the Islamic Republic will make economic plans according to the new oil prices to avoid potential economic setbacks.

Nobakht explained on Wednesday that Iran had based its budget for the current Iranian year (started March 21) on assumptions that the price for each barrel of oil would be 100 dollars. However, he said, oil prices fell to 93 dollars a barrel, which is 7 percent lower than the 100-dollar price projected in the original budget.

“We will compensate for this discrepancy through a mechanism of balancing expenditures in accordance with revenues,” the Iranian administration spokesman said.

“A budget deficit is brought about when, regardless of falls in revenues, we continue spending on the same track as before; but, we pursue a planned structure of expenditures; therefore, we will face no setbacks,” said Nobakht, who is also Iran’s vice president for strategic planning and supervision.

On October 29, Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani said that the country’s oil revenues have plunged by 30 percent due to a recent fall in crude prices in the global market.

Rouhani said that the oil-rich country should be prepared to deal with “the new conditions.”

Brent crude, a benchmark for more than half of the world’s oil, has fallen more than 20 percent since June, when its price had reached about USD 115 a barrel.

Iran has slashed its crude price in an attempt to attract Asian customers following a recent slump in the oil prices due to market oversupply and concomitant falling demand.