Rouhani: Single-digit inflation rate an undying honor for government

Tehran, Dec 4, IRNA – President Hassan Rouhani said that the single-digit inflation rate is an undying source of honor for his government. The President made the remarks while addressing the parliament’s Sunday morning open session where he went to present his proposed budget bill for the next Iranian year (to start March 21, 2017). He said the timely presentation of the budget bill to the parliament indicates the government’s respect to the dignified position of Majlis and also its commitment to financial discipline and regulations. He said the single-digit inflation rate is an achievement for his government which will have enduring results. President Rouhani said his government managed to constitute the achievement by adopting realistic and pragmatic approaches while focusing on crises and problems according to their priorities. Noting that none of the governments in the history of the Islamic Republic started work while the inflation rate stood at a rate of plus 23 percent, he said the figure stood at over 40 percent when he took office three years ago. He said he stood loyal to his promise of reducing the inflation rate to a single-digit figure and managed to lower it to minus 10 just in less than three years. President Rouhani on Thursday announced the budget bill for the next Iranian fiscal year of 1396 (March 21, 2017-March 20, 2018) is 3,200,000 billion rials (about 100 billion dollars). The president said the administration will allocate 600,000 billion rials for development projects and the budget is hoped to be met. He added that the budget pays special attention to five sectors, including employment, water, sewage treatment, the environment and railway, as they will be government priorities in the next year and government approach in the Sixth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2016-21) will be in their favor. The president said good measures have been taken in the oil and gas sectors and as of late last year, when the JCPOA was in force, oil and gas condensate output started upward growth and following recent OPEC decision for 1.2 million barrels output cut, oil price will start increasing. According to the Chief Executive, the amount of production reduction and share of the members in the OPEC output cut are clear. 'However, the Islamic Republic of Iran which lagged behind due to sanctions, has been excluded from the rule and will add up to its production as of the next months.' 'Under such conditions, oil price will naturally increase. The budget of 320 billion rials has hence been predicted and planned.' Elsewhere in his remarks, the president put number of active workforce at 1.2 million and said it lays a heavy burden on the officials. Based on the statistics available, jobs have been created for 714,000 of the group but about 500,000 of them are still unemployed, said the president, adding that on this basis the unemployment rate will keep growing. 1378/IRNA