Govt. raises $3.6b by selling stocks

Head of Iran’s Planning and Budget Organization (PBO) has said that offering shares of state-owned companies has brought the government 160 trillion rials (over $3.6 billion) in the first four months of the current Iranian calendar year (March 20-July 21).

According to Mohammad-Baqer Nobakht, the mentioned earnings came as the government had foreseen only 119 trillion rials (about $2.83 billion) of capital market revenues for the mentioned four months.

According to the official, in the face of the U.S. sanctions and the global recession caused by the coronavirus pandemic, Iranian oil exports have declined and oil revenues have fallen, so the government is offsetting the budget deficits through other sources.

“Oil sales have dropped dramatically this year so that only six percent of our expected oil revenues have been realized so far,” Nobakht said.

He further underlined the effectiveness and significance of other sources of income like taxes, customs revenues and capital market incomes in the current situation, and said: ”So far, 75 percent of tax revenues for the current [Iranian calendar] year have been realized, 20 percent more than last year’s same period.”

Raising funds through the capital market has become a major strategy for the government which is wrestling with financial issues resulted from the coronavirus, collapsing oil prices, U.S. sanctions, and loss of oil export revenue.

The government expects to make 1.09 quadrillion rials ($25.9 billion) from bonds as per provisions of the current fiscal budget.

Nobakht has previously said that oil sales will account for just seven percent of the country’s income in the current Iranian calendar year and the revenues gained from elimination of hidden energy subsidies, selling government bonds and shares as well as increased tax incomes will replace oil revenues.

source: TehranTimes