Addressing ceremonies, marking inauguration of the biggest water treatment center of Iran in Mashad, President Rouhani said, 'In the period, Iran not only declined to use its reserves to manage the country, but also deposited 20 percent of its revenues into the National Development Fund.'
According to IRNA, he said in the past two years, oil price depleted to its lowest level in Iranian history and within several months the price downed to 30 dollars a barrel from 120 dollars in the past.
'Under such circumstances, all the oil states suffered problems and Saudi Arabia with 10.5 million barrels per day production, withdrew nearly 100 billion dollars from its forex reserves last year to run its country. But for the first ever in its history, Iran refused to withdraw anything from its reserves to run its affairs; last year, Iran rather deposited 20 percent of its oil revenues into the National Development Fund.'
'This shows the might of Iranian nation and government; though nothing has been said in the radio and TV that all oil producers, except Iran, used to withdraw from their reserves to run their country. I do announce that we are the only country to deposit part of the oil revenue into the National Development Fund and ran the country with difficulty,' concluded Rouhani.
EghtesadOnline: President Hassan Rouhani has praised the 'unprecedented' performance of current government in running the country despite harsh oil price decline in the past two years.