When War Becomes an Excuse: How Economic Pressure Is Being Shifted Onto Ordinary People

-
Image
  By Reza Hoseani Iran’s economic crisis is no longer just a headline — it has become part of everyday life. Skyrocketing prices, the continuous collapse of the national currency, and shrinking household purchasing power are now affecting nearly every segment of society. But an important question remains: Are these hardships truly the direct result of war and external pressure, or are they rooted in domestic economic policies and political decisions? While state media repeatedly blame regional tensions and foreign conflicts for inflation and market instability, many economists argue that the current crisis is driven far more by internal policymaking than by war itself.   War as a Cover for Internal Economic Failure For years, whenever Iran’s economy entered a deeper phase of crisis, official narratives pointed to external enemies and international tensions. However, economic experts say the immediate impact of war rarely causes inflation on this scale in such a sho...
Post a Comment

Iran Regime Spends over Two Times Its Budget on Subsidies

-
By Mahmoud Hakamian
The Iranian Plan and Budget Organization (PBO) has said that the Regime will spend more than two times the government’s budget on hidden and direct subsidies in this financial year.

The PBO said that Iran is estimated to spend 8,900 trillion rials (or $63.7 billion, based on the current USD exchange rate on the open market) on total subsidies, which is 2.2 times the government’s budget, during the current fiscal year of March 21, 2019, to March 20, 2020.
If we based the exchange on Iran’s artificial exchange rate, which was fixed in April 2018, the amount in dollars would be at least three times higher.
The subsidiaries
Roughly a third of the subsidies are paid directly from the government budget and state-run financial entities. These are cash subsidies and include things like financial aid to the agricultural and industrial sectors.
Two-thirds of the subsidiaries, which equates to about 6,490 trillion rials ($46.35 billion), are hidden. This mainly means subsidizing products, including food, medicines, and energy sources, to make them cheaper.
However, if the Regime sells these products abroad or charges the Iranian people for the true value of imported goods, then it would make roughly $46.35 billion at the expense of the Iranian people.
If we look at gasoline as an example, one litre of gasoline costs 10,000 rials (7 cents), which is six to ten times lower than the regional average. The daily gasoline consumption in Iran during 2019 is estimated at 85-93 million litres, means that Iran will spend at least $40 million per day to subsidise gasoline.
PBO estimates that the gasoline subsidy will reach 1,235 trillion rials ($8.8 billion) in this financial year, while the total diesel subsidy is higher still.
Here is a list of the PBO’s estimates for hidden subsidies in Iran during 2019 (USD amounts worked out at open market exchange rate:
• Food: 399 trillion rial ($2.85 billion)
• Medicine: 102.6 trillion rial ($0.73 billion)
• Gasoline: 1,235 trillion rial ($8.82 billion)
• Kerosene: 104.5 trillion rial ($0.75 billion)
• Diesel: 1297 trillion rial ($9.26 billion)
• Fuel Oil: 142.5 trillion rial ($1 billion)
• LPG: 124.2 trillion rial ($0.89 billion)
• Jet Fuel: 86.1 trillion rial ($0.61 billion)
• Natural Gas: 2,791 trillion rial ($19.94 billion)
• Electricity: 100 trillion rial ($0.71 billion)
The International Energy Agency said that the fossil-fuel subsidies in Iran during 2017 were the highest in the world at $45.1 billion. Since then, the Iranian rial has lost 70% of its value.
The most troubling part of all of this is crucial growth sectors are going woefully underfunded, with industrial and agriculture sectors only receiving 3.4% of total subsidies and education only 1.6%.
source:ncr-iran

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

International Dignitaries Rally for a New Iran Policy, Support NCRI as Democratic Alternative

-
Image
  Written by Shamsi Saadati Paris, France  – On Saturday, May 17, 2025, an influential international conference convened in Paris, uniting parliamentarians and prominent political figures from a wide array of countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, Ireland, Malta, Switzerland, Romania, Portugal, and the Netherlands. The central theme of the gathering was the urgent need for a new, decisive international policy towards Iran, with a strong emphasis on supporting democratic change and recognizing the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) as a viable alternative to the current regime. The event served as a significant platform for global lawmakers to voice their concerns over the deteriorating human rights situation in Iran, the regime’s escalating domestic repression, its destabilizing regional activities, and its persistent pursuit of a nuclear program. A recurring call throughout the conference was for Western governments to adopt a firmer stance, including the ...
Read more

NCRI, British parliamentary committee host online event in support of Iranian women

-
Image
  Author:Zolal Habibi March 7, 2021— A global online  conference  held on Monday, March 8, marking International Women’s Day co-hosted by the Women’s Committee of the Iranian opposition National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), The International Committee for a Democratic Iran, and the British Committee for Iran Freedom discussed the plight of Iranian women in their struggle for freedom and equal rights. The event featured speeches by politicians, women’s rights activists, and members of the Iranian opposition. Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the president-elect of the NCRI and the keynote speaker of the event. “The outcome of the significant gender gap in Iran is the imposition of extreme poverty on women and the denial of many of their most basic rights,” Madam Rajavi said. “The misogynous regime wants to preserve its rule through repression. However, Iranian women play critical roles in challenging the regime and pushing the situation towards overthrowing the mullahs.” Madam ...
Read more

General Call for Signing a Statement on the Investigation of Killers of the Massacre of Prisoners

-
Image
Link to call signing: https://www.change.org/p/un-secretary-general-call-for-justice-for-the-1988-iran-massacre Let's move our hands to change our world In the age of consciousness, and in the 21st century, brutality and barbarism must be stopped, this is not worthy of humanity. At the first step, you should be the center of this cruelty and the godfather of crime and murder, terrorism and fundamentalism that nobody is part of Iran's terrorist government. The fact is that the killing and execution of political and conscientious prisoners in public or in prisons is secretly in its astronomical dimensions on the coin of killing innocent people abroad by this regime. The issuance of terrorism and the support of fundamentalist and terrorist groups in this regime is institutionalized and is part of the constitution. The crimes committed by perpetrators and groups affiliated with this corrupt and expansionist state in Syria and Lebanon and Iraq ...
Read more