NDFI Revenues to Be Hiked
EghtesadOnline: The parliament voted to raise Iran’s sovereign wealth fund’s share of petroleum revenues to 30% for the sixth five-year development plan (2016-21), up from the previous 20%.
Based on the bill, the National Development Fund’s share of Iran’s crude oil, natural gas and condensate sales will increase a minimum of two percentage points each year until the end of the plan.
This annual increase was also part of the previous five-year plan but neither former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad nor the incumbent President Hassan Rouhani implemented it.
Iran is estimated to possess a tenth of the world’s proven oil reserves and over 15% of its proven gas reserves. Managing the revenues earned from these resources and its pitfalls efficiently has been a challenge no Iranian government has yet mastered.
Just as the previous five-year plan, the National Iranian Oil Company will receive 14.5% of petroleum revenues and a 3% will go to the provinces with the oil and gas reserves to combat poverty, according to Financial Tribune.
In the Sixth Plan, if the government’s take from petroleum falls below 830 trillion rials ($20 billion at market exchange rate), adjusted for inflation, the government can take the shortfall from foreign exchange reserves or borrow through bonds.