Date: 12 Mar 2000
Time: 18:02:24
Remote Name: 24.30.137.96
03/12/2000 Dow Jones International News (Copyright (c) 2000, Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)
MANAMA, Bahrain -(Dow Jones)- Iran 's parliament has endorsed the government's budget plan for fiscal year 2000 beginning March 21, the official IRNA news agency reported Sunday.
It said the parliament approved a final expansionary version of the budget, projecting total spending of 360.668 trillion rials ($1=IRR3,000).
The final figure is slightly less than the IRR362.778 trillion approved by the parliament's budget commission last week, but higher than the IRR358.800 trillion originally planned by President Mohammed Khatami in December.
Total 1999 expenditures were estimated at IRR276.215 trillion.
Iran 's budget bill usually consists of two parts, the general budget and the state-owned organizations budget. Total expenditure covers all parts of the budget.
IRNA didn't give a breakdown of the expenditures figures, but the government's original plan allocated IRR125.953 trillion for the general budget and IRR239.381 trillion for the organizations budget.
The new 2000 plan estimated the government's revenues at IRR111.335 trillion.
IRNA quoted the head of the budget commission, Mohammad Noubakht, as saying Monday that the government estimates oil revenues at $11.50 billion.
If the oil earnings exceed this figure, the government will use the excess revenues to pay internal debts and finance development projects.
The plan estimates 31% of total revenues will come from taxes, 49% from crude oil exports and 20% from other sources.
Iran is one of the world's major oil producers, with February's output running at 3.49 million barrels a day, according to a Dow Jones Newswires survey.
The country's oil earnings have been boosted by surging oil prices for almost a year now. Oil revenues usually constitute around 85% of Iran 's foreign exchange earnings.