Tehran: Iranian President Hassan Rouhani has presented a draft budget to the parliament, saying it was designed to resist US sanctions by limiting dependence on oil revenue.
Rouhani gave the value of the draft budget at about 4,845 trillion rials on Sunday, which equals to around 38 billion US dollars based on Tehran’s street market exchange rate, Xinhua news agency reported.
“Next year, as with the current year, our budget is a budget of resistance against sanctions,” Rouhani said when addressing the parliament.
The next Iranian fiscal year begins on March 21, with the advent of the Persian New Year.
“It has the least possible dependence on oil,” Rouhani said while elaborating on the country’s economic situation.
“This budget announces to the world that despite sanctions, we can manage the country, especially in terms of oil,” the president said.
Following the US withdrawal from the Iranian nuclear deal in May 2018, Washington reimposed sanctions on Iran’s crude oil exports with the aim of exerting maximum pressure on Tehran for renewed talks on the latter’s nuclear program and ballistic missile activities.
The new budget comes after Rouhani’s administration decided last month to ration gasoline and raise its prices which triggered unrest across the country.