Iran earned $8 billion of phasing out energy subsidies

TEHRAN,Jan.21(MNA)— Iran has earned some $8 billion in the first nine months of the Iranian calendar year as the government phased out motor-fuel subsidies and prices increased. Jalil Salari, the managing director of the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company, said that the implementation of the Subsidy Reform Plan had saved the country some $5.3 billion in fuel consumption in the first six months of the Iranian calendar year. Under a five-year plan, the Persian Gulf country started phasing out energy subsidies in December 2010 and replacing them with cash payments to the poor. The consumption of four highly-consumed fuels in Iran has declined noticeably since implementation of the reform plan, the official said. Jalil Salari said on October 21 that since the enforcement of the Subsidy Reform Plan in the country in December 2010, the consumption of liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline, kerosene, and diesel has cut between 4 and 19 percent. The subsidy reform plan allows the Iranian government to gradually slash subsidies on fuel, electricity, and certain goods over the course of five years, with low-income families being compensated with direct cash handouts.