“The government should pay people the extra profits it gains from gasoline price hikes as soon as possible to show its commitments and fulfill its obligations,” Larijani said during Parliament’s session Sunday morning.
He added that the Parliament’s Economic Commission will hold meetings to review the impacts of the fuel’s price hike on different economic sectors and find the best solutions to tackle the problems in the best way possible.
Based on a decision made by the Judiciary, Legislative and Administrative branches, the government implemented a new gasoline rationing and price revision plan on Friday.
The National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC) said in a statement that the price of a liter of regular gasoline had gone up to 15,000 rials (12.7 US cents) from 10,000 rials and the monthly ration for each private automobile was set at 60 liters per month. Additional purchases would cost 30,000 rials per liter.
President Hassan Rouhani said the government has no intention to receive any portion of the hike despite the economic woes in the country. He added that the government's move to increase the gasoline prices would be beneficial to the Iranian people, particularly those who are going through economic hardships.
Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, head of Plan and Budget Organization has said that about 60 million people out of the 82 million population will get an extra monthly bonus to compensate for the rise in petrol prices. He did not provide details.
“The first payments will be made within the next week or 10 days.”
According to the official, annual subsidy allocated for gasoline is $20 billion and experts believe the massive subsidy has created a yawning gap between gasoline prices in Iran (7 cents) and neighboring countries at around 100 cents. Scrapping fuel subsidies and raising tariffs had been a long-expected priority of the Oil Ministry.
MNA/FNA13980826000074
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