DUBAI: Iran’s oil revenues have been cut in half this year compared with last year, a newspaper quoted Iran’s economic minister as saying, an admission of how deeply Western sanctions are cutting Tehran’s chief source of funds.
“Because of the sanctions, revenues collected from the country’s oil have dropped by 50 percent,” Economic Minister Shamseddin Hosseini was quoted as saying by economic daily Donya-e-Eqtesad.
“By managing our resources and revenues, there will be no problem in paying salaries until the end of this year,” he added, referring to Iran’s calendar year which ends on March 20, 2013.
Hosseini had made the comments in an interview on state television on Saturday and they were published by the newspaper yesterday.
Iranian legislators had previously hinted at the country’s budget woes as a result of sanctions and officials have said the government should depend less on oil revenues and more on taxation to fill its coffers. Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due to present the 2013-2014 budget to Parliament for approval.
reuters
