Iran Budget Deficit Growth Slows

EghtesadOnline: The Iranian government's balance sheet for the last fiscal year (March 2017-18) shows major improvement compared to the preceding year, as revenues got a boost in line with curbs on spending.

News ID: ۷۴۵۶۴۲

15 July 2018

Its overall revenues in the 12 months amounted to 483.7 trillion rials ($11.17 billion), posting a rise of 35.8% year-on-year, while its spending hit 753.7 trillion rials ($17.41 billion) to register a 23.2% growth YOY.

This is while CBI's previous budgetary report for the 11 months to Feb. 19 saw revenues posting a rise of 23.2%, while spending had a 30.1% growth year-on-year.

The latest reported deficit of 270 trillion rials ($6.23 billion) also came in narrower than the budget law’s forecast of 321.4 trillion rials ($7.42 billion), according to Financial Tribune.

To cover the shortfall, the government issued a total of 601.7 trillion rials ($13.9 billion) worth of bonds last year, 4.2% fewer compared to the year before.

The shortfall is 5.7% more compared to the preceding year's. Notably, in the fiscal 2016-17, the deficit came in 40.7% bigger than in the year before.

Revenues associated with the sales of oil and petroleum products reached 919.2 trillion rials ($21.24 billion) last year, indicating a 24.4% rise YOY, but less than the 1,139 trillion rials ($26.32 billion) expected in the budget law.

Tax revenues were estimated to hover around 1,164.6 trillion rials ($26.91 billion), but they reached 1,158.4 trillion rials ($26.77 billion) from 1,014.7 trillion rials ($23.45 billion) in the year before, registering a 14.2% increase YOY.

The government’s tax revenues consist of returns from direct and indirect taxation. Direct taxes include three groups of “tax on legal entities”, “income tax” and “wealth tax”.

Overall, direct tax revenues stood at 531.5 trillion rials ($12.28 billion), registering a rise of 7.6% YOY.

Indirect taxes, including “tax on imports” and “tax on goods and services”, hit 626.9 trillion rials ($14.48 billion), indicating a 20.4% rise YOY.

The report also shows tax on imports generated 226.7 trillion rials ($5.23 billion), 23.9% more than the year before while tax on goods and services earned the government 400.2 trillion rials ($9.24 billion), up 18.4% YOY. Value added tax, which is a subcategory of tax on goods and services, increased by 19.8% to reach 269.4 trillion rials ($6.22 billion).

The government spent 439.2 trillion rials (about $10.15 billion) on development projects during the 12 months, 13.6% more compared to the year before but much lower than the target of 713.7 trillion rials ($16.49 billion) as per the budget law.