ID :
151625
Mon, 11/29/2010 - 13:34
Auther :

MP criticizes administration for postponing subsidy reform

TEHRAN, Nov. 29 (MNA)--MP Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moqaddam criticized the administration for procrastinating the subsidy reform plan, saying it would intensify the expected inflation.

“Delay in the implementation of the subsidy reform will raise the inflationary expectations in the society,” Mesbahi-Moqaddam, a cleric MP who sits on the Majlis Economic Committee, told on Sunday.

The subsidy reform plan envisages a cutting of subsidies on fuel, electricity, and certain goods over the course of five years. The administration has decided to pay cash subsidies for an undecided period of time to compensate low-income families for the inflationary repercussions of the plan.

The initial stage of the plan started last month as the administration paid cash payments into the bank accounts of people.

Then it was announced that the main stage of the plan would go into force at the latest since the beginning of the current Iranian calendar month of Azar which started on November 22, but the administration has not yet started the so-called overhaul of the economy.

Mesbahi-Moqaddam said the administration has not informed parliamentarians of the exact date that it will implement the plan.

First, the administration promised to put the law in force during the second half of the Iranian calendar month of Aban (October 23 to November 21), but it failed to fulfill its promise, he added.

He also said that it is unlikely that the Majlis asks the president a question about the reasons behind the delay.

In the current situation it is not advisable to ask the president this question, because it may disturb the calm in the society ahead of the plan, he said.



X