Amid continued efforts to give new momentum to stalled talks aimed at restoring the country’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, Iran’s President Ebrahim Raisi has set about major reforms in the country’s subsidies system.
Raisi stated that he is gradually transforming a subsidies system introduced by his predecessor to stabilize prices in the face of sanctions, but that mostly ended up breeding corruption, during a televised late-night interview on Monday
As he directly addressed the Iranian people, Raisi promised that “The prices of bread, medicine and petrol will not increase under any circumstances.”
The central bank later said an overwhelming majority of the country’s 85-million population had received Raisi’s promised cash subsidies. The subsidies reach a total of approximately $10.8 billion for two months which have been sent to individual bank accounts, where they will be able to use in the near future.
Only the richest Iranians are excluded from the cash subsidies list.
An electronic coupon scheme is expected to be implemented to control prices after roughly two months.
Impacted amid a global soar in wheat prices in part due to the Ukraine war, the coupon scheme is likely to be enforced digitally to first and foremost subsidize bread prices. However, officials have said that the scheme could later include other goods such as chicken and vegetable oil.
