January 25, 2019
One of the few real powers of the president of Iran is to oversee the budget, but this year it turns out that Supreme Leader Ali Khamenehi has intervened to make major changes in what had been President Rohani’s draft budget.
Rohani submitted his budget just before the deadline of December 6, as required by law, but did not make his usual appearance before the Majlis. Three weeks later, Rohani finally addressed the Majlis on the budget—but in the meantime, Khamenehi had made major changes.
According to IranWire, Khamenehi stripped out 260 trillion rials or 13 percent of the programs Khatami had approved. No list of what exasperated Khamenehi enough to cause him to intervene has yet been produced.
Khamenehi then ordered 400 trillion rials of additions to the budget. According to published tables, 61 percent of the additions go to the armed forces and 19 percent will go to pay off bonds the government had previously issued. The remainder is scattered all over the budget, but includes funds for rebuilding quake-stricken areas, improving water supplies and tackling dust storms. It also includes small additions to 21 organizations run by clerics who are the base of support for the regime.
The budget has always been the purview of the elected president. It is widely assumed that the Supreme Leader has quietly told the president what programs the supreme leader wants to see plussed up. But that was never done publicly until this year.
It still remains unclear why Khomeini not only intervened but made major changes in the budget, most of the changes to the benefit of the military. The documents so far in the pubic domain do not hint at what the additional funds will be used for by the military.