No budget deficit in Iran
Despite a recent decline in crude oil prices, Iran faces no
budget deficit, Iran's finance and economic affairs minister Ali
Tayyebnia said.
"We receive petrodollars 5-6 months after selling crude oil.
Presently, we are spending the revenues which we received in the
previous months," Tayyebnia said, Fars news agency reported.
The decline in oil prices has reduced the country's revenues, but
we should increase tax incomes to reduce dependence on oil incomes,
he said.
Brent crude, a global benchmark, has tumbled 26 percent since June
and settled at $85.40 a barrel on October 20.
Iran's Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zanganeh has consulted with
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani about political and economic
reasons for the price collapse, Iran's Shana news website reported
on October 20.
Rouhani told Zanganeh to use the "oil diplomacy tool" to try to
prevent a further decrease, the state-run Mehr news agency reported
without elaborating.