Iran 'will need $5bn subsidy' to avoid petrol rationing
By Gareth Smyth in Tehran
Published: May 28 2006

 

A leading Iranian parliamentarian on Sunday warned President Mahmoud Ahmadi-Nejad he would need to spend an extra $5bn this year to pay for subsidies on sales to motorists of imported petrol and diesel to avoid politically sensitive rationing.

Kamal Daneshyar, head of the parliament's energy commission, told Reuters the government needed to withdraw the money from the Oil Stabilisation Fund (OSF), which collects windfall oil revenue for contingencies and investment. He later told the FT this was in addition to the $2.5bn (�2bn, �1.3bn) already allocated in the budget for the year March 2006-March 2007.