Azernews.Az

By Sara Rajabova

Sharp fall in global oil prices urges the energy producing countries to take decisive measures not to face the budget deficit.

Iran, which defined the oil prices at $100 per barrel in last year’s budget, is mulling to set the oil price in the next year’s budget at lower cost.

Member of the Planning Commission and the budget of the Iranian Parliament, Gholam Reza Kateb said Iran's government has offered to put the price of oil at $ 70 per barrel in the budget for the next year, Fars news agency reported.

He said this question was discussed in the parliament and the government.

Earlier, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said the country's income from oil sales were down 30 percent.

Iran could face a budget deficit in the current Iranian calendar year (ending March 20, 2015) due to the sharp drop in oil prices.

The experts predict that in any case the Islamic country will face the budget deficit.

Head of Iran World Trade Center Mohammad Reza Sabzalipour recently told Trend Agency that the minimum budget deficit will be around 30 percent, but in the worst case scenario the figure may even reach 50 percent.

Sabzalipour said the current year's budget plan was practically approved with deficit.

"Iran is currently exporting less oil than the figure projected in the budget plan. The price of the exported oil is also way below the figure estimated in the budget plan. It is while the country had to pay off some debts from the previous fiscal year’s budget plan. So a considerable budget deficit is completely understandable," he said.

In the meantime, Iran’s Asian export fell below 1 million barrels per day (bpd) for a second time this year, according to Reuters. Last year's interim agreement that eased some sanctions on Iran allowed it to keep export at about 1 million bpd, down from 2.2 million bpd before imposition of tough sanctions in 2012.