Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s government presented the 2021-2022 budget to parliament. According to reports by, the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), the expansion was 46 percent higher compared to last year. Despite this, the parliamentary committee approved a further 35 percent. The general budget has thus gone from 841 trillion tomans to 1143 tomans.
An expert of the regime’s reformist faction has said that the parliamentary integration commission’s approval of a higher budget is a very risky move. He said that it puts Iran “on the brink of a dangerous precipice” and said that there could be very significant and dramatic consequences.
An economist linked to the government indicated that budgets like the ones proposed would have a huge effect on the lower classes, basically sinking them into further poverty and difficulties. The same economist also wanted that inflation would be much sharper than it has been in the past few years.
The index relating to unemployment and inflation, also known as the “index of misery”, is what this year is marked by. This, of course, is going to lead to very many unhappy people – more than there already is. As we know, hungry people have very little to lose and the government will certainly face a major backlash.
The Etemad publication mentioned the “misery rate” saying that even according to the government’s own “fake statistics”, the rate was almost at 20 percent in 2018. The following year it rose to 37 percent, in 2019 it was over 45.5 percent, and last year it was 70 percent.
The Iranian regime’s decades of economic mismanagement and economic corruption are finally catching up. The economy has been in tatters for years, but the effects are so profound and widespread at the present time. According to Transparency International, the Iranian government ranked 149th in terms of corruption for the year 2020 (out of 180 countries).
A few months ago, the head of the Plan and Budget Organization expressed his concerns about the next budget proposal, saying that the government’s revenues without oil exports are nowhere near enough to cover budget expenditures.
Inflation is another major concern. One MP recently said that inflation will rise to more than 400 percent. The MP said that society will not be able to bear any more inflation.
The governor of the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Abdolnasser Hemmati is at a loss on how to improve the situation. He said that even though printing banknotes will increase inflation and cause harm to all, there may be no other option.
Despite all the hypotheticals, the 2021 to 2022 budget bill was rejected after months of disputes. It is even harder to draw a conclusion about what could happen or what is likely to happen. Yet one thing is sure – the economic situation is still going to be dire. The regime cannot fix the years and years of damage it has done, and the international pressure it is under, especially with regards to economic sanctions, does not help the situation.
It is no wonder the people want the regime placed with a competent alternative.
and People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran – MEK IRAN – YouTube
