Nobakht defends 'lawful' gasoline price rise

May 27:

Tehran, May 27, IRNA – A senior government official has defended the recent rise in gasoline prices in Iran saying it was in accordance with the law and the government was obliged by the subsidies reform plan to raise the prices.

Head of Management and Planning Organization Mohammad-Baqer Nobakht said in a televised speech on Tuesday that inflation is not favored by the current administration in Iran and the government is doing its best to reduce the costs of living in the country, but 'raising gasoline prices was a legal duty on the administration which should have been accomplished accordingly.'

He said the subsidies reform plan has tasked the government to regulate gasoline prices up to 90% of the FOB prices in the Persian Gulf by the end of the current calendar year to March 20.

The official also added that the country will earn more than 30,000 billion rials by unifying gasoline prices which will be distributed among the people according to the same law. 

He said one of the government's concerns regarding gasoline prices is to raise it so high to curb consumption and therefore import of the commodity which is not easy for the country given the Western sanctions imposed on it. 

The Iranian government has scrapped subsidized gasoline rationing system to unify the petrol and gasoil prices.

“As of Tuesday midnight, one liter of regular gasoline will sell at 10,000 rials and one liter of premium gasoline at 12,000 rials,” spokesman for National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC) said.

One US dollar is traded for nearly 29,000 rials officially and for around 33,000 rials on open market. 

Davoud Arab-Ali said gasoil will also sell at 3,000 rials a liter in Iran, adding that kerosene will sell at 1,500 rials a liter and liquefied gas at 2,300 rials per kilogram, shana.ir reported.

Jet fuel price will soar to 6,000 rials a liter while compressed natural gas (CNG) will be charged at 4,000 rials per cubic meter.

Arab-Ali said the quota remaining in smart cards of car owners would be valid until September.

**1664

Source: http://www.irna.ir/en/News/81625168/?

Comments