Iran prepares bill to assist low-income families

TEHRAN,Jan.23(MNA) - The Iranian parliament (Majlis) and the administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have drafted a bill to establish a program to support low-income families and provide them with staple foods. “In the current economic situation and with [the current] inflation rate, we should support the low-income strata of society through providing the necessities to them,” MP Jafar Qaderi told the Mehr News Agency on Tuesday. MP Ahmad Tavakkoli has been appointed to finalize the bill and submit it to the Majlis for approval, Qaderi added. The Central Bank of Iran has announced that the inflation rate in the 12-month period ending with the completion of the ninth Iranian calendar month of Azar (December 20, 2012) hit 27.4 percent. Earlier, the Majlis and the administration agreed to allocate $2 billion from the National Development Fund to support low-income families. The money will be used to provide staple foods to poor families. In May 2012, Industry, Mines and Trade Minister Mehdi Ghazanfari said that ten percent of the NDF’s assets would be allocated to support national production. Iran transfers 20 percent of its oil revenues to the NDF. President Ahmadinejad recently said that the NDF’s assets would hit $55 billion by the end of the current Iranian calendar year, which ends on March 20, 2013.