Iran’s Reliance on Oil Revenues to Decrease by 28%: VP

TEHRAN (defapress) – Iranian Vice President Mohammad Baqer Nobakht reiterated the country’s policy to reduce its reliance on oil exports and said in the next Iranian calendar year (which will begin on March 21), the country’s dependency on oil would decrease by 28 percent.

News ID: 74673

Date: 31 December 2018 - 20:53

Nobakht, who is also head of Iran’s Plan and Budget Organization, said on Monday that under the best conditions predicted in the budget bill for the next year, the administration’s oil revenues will stand at $21 billion.

It means that the country’s dependency on oil revenues will decrease by 28 percent compared to the current year.

Earlier this month, Iranian First Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri said it is unlikely that the oil revenues’ share in the budget for the next Iranian fiscal year will be more than 25 percent.

Addressing a conference about the insurance industry in Tehran on December 4, Jahangiri pointed to the sanctions imposed against Iran’s oil sector and said there are some capacities in the country that can be tapped to weather the crisis.

The remarks come as US officials have repeatedly claimed that they aim to cut Iran’s oil exports to zero.

Tensions between Iran and the US have escalated since US President Donald Trump walked away from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers in May and re-imposed sanctions on the Islamic Republic.

Following the US exit from the nuclear deal, Iran and the remaining parties launched talks to save the accord.

Trump on August 6 signed an executive order re-imposing many sanctions on Iran, three months after pulling out of the Iran nuclear deal.

He said the US policy is to levy “maximum economic pressure” on the country.

The second batch of US sanctions against the Islamic Republic took effect on November 4.

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