Iran plans to increase cash subsidies

TEHRAN,Feb.20(MNA)--Iran planned to raise cash subsidies as the administration will start implementing the second phase of the Subsidy Reform Plan in the near future, Iran`s Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Shamseddin Hosseini said. The second phase of implementing the plan has envisaged removing subsidies of some three million Iranian families. The Iranian government is planning to pay more cash subsidies to the economically vulnerable strata and cut subsidies of the well-off families. The plan, launched in December 2010, 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.