December 29, 2017
The Iranian government is running a higher than expected deficit this year as revenues are down slightly and expenditures are up substantially.
The government’s revenues in the first half of the current Persian year (March 21-Sept. 22), including tax proceeds, amounted to 567.8 trillion rials ($13.8 billion), registering a 3.7 percent decline year-on-year.
The report shows government spending hit a whopping 1,074.9 trillion rials ($26.2 billion) during the period, a rise of 13 percent over last year’s corresponding period.
Iran’s budget deficit came in wider than expected in the six months of the current fiscal year to reach 181.1 trillion rials ($4.4 billion). The shortfall for the period was higher than forecast, which was 163.8 trillion rials ($4.0 billion).
To cover the widening deficit, the government has been issuing bonds. In the first half of the year, the government issued 253.3 trillion rials ($6.2 billion) worth of bonds, 7.7 percent less than the corresponding period of last year.
The government only spent 78.2 trillion rials ($1.9 billion) on development projects in the first half, 36 percent less than the similar period of last year and also much lower than the projected 363.7 trillion rials ($8.9 billion).
