Iranian President Hassan Roumania on Sunday presented a draft budget of 8,370 trillion rials (some 311 billion U.S. dollars) to the parliament, up 4.3 percent than that of the current year.

The budget of the new Iranian calendar year, which starts on March 21, 2015, has less reliance on oil revenues than that of the previous year.

Oil revenues, based on 72 U.S. dollars per barrel, make up 33 percent of the proposed budget, compared to 37 percent of the current one, based on oil revenues of 100 dollars per barrel.

Iran's oil exports are under sanctions by the United States and the European Union and are facing falling prices on the market.

To tackle the issue, Roumania said Sunday that his administration is poised to increase non-oil exports and curb inflation since the country is in dire need of rapid economic growth.

Last week, Russian Economy Minister Alexes said here that Russia hoped to sign a barter contract with Iran to deliver grain and industrial products to its southern neighbor in return for oil from the Islamic republic. The proposal aims to help both Russia and Iran bypass sanction pressures by the West over a number of controversial issues. Endit

Go to Forum >>0 Comment(s)