Iran oil dependency under 30% in new draft budget

Iran expects to slash its dependency on oil revenues to all-time lows, the country's vice-president for scientific and technological affairs says.

Sorena Sattari on Monday announced that oil dependency in the new draft budget proposed for the next Iranian calendar year (which starts on March 21) would be around 30 percent.

The figure represents the lowest ever dependency of Iran's budget on oil revenues, according to IRNA.

Sattari said that development could create a “golden opportunity” for Iran to move from the current oil-based economy to a science-based one.

Iran is faced with an unprecedented downfall in the prices of oil at the international markets which, accompanied by West’s sanctions on Iran's oil exports, could further shrink the country’s actual earnings.

Iran's annual budget in 2013 also saw a 40-percent decrease in the projected oil incomes, a move described by the administration as making the budget extremely contradictory to respond to Western sanctions.  

The draft bill, which has already been submitted to Iran's parliament (Majlis), provides no estimates on the potential volume of Iran's oil export in the next year.

Iranian Petroleum Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh said Sunday that he could not provide any clear estimates on the future of oil prices. He described the prospect as “not predictable,” adding, however, that “political factors and intentions” could have a negative impact on global oil sales.