Monday, January 22, 2007

Economy: Ahmadinejad unveils second annual budget

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has unveiled his second annual budget, forecasting a sharp 20 per cent increase in spending but lower oil revenues for Opec's second largest exporter.

He asked parliament to approve a budget of 2,290 trillion rials (about $248 billion) for the next Iranian year starting on March 21, a 19.6 per cent rise on current expenditure.The figure was based on projections that Iranian oil will sell for 33.7 dollars a barrel, compared to 40 dollars in the current year's budget.