Iran's Guardian Council watchdog has approved the state budget for the current Iranian year, the state-run television reported on Saturday. The Iranian new year started on March 21. The 5,170 billion rial (around $500 billion) budget will now be sent to parliament to be submitted to the government for implementation.
Iranian media have reported the budget is 45 percent bigger than last year's, based on an oil price of around $81.50 per barrel, $1.50 above the initial proposal by the government. "The budget was approved by the Council without changes," said Ali Kadkhodai, spokesman of the Council. Iran is undergoing what the government has called major economic surgery, in the form of cuts to the multi-billion dollar subsidies, which for years have held down the price of essential goods like fuel and food.