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Rezayee Stresses Necessity for Lowering Iran’s Reliance on Oil Income

A1076934 (1) Secretary of Iran’s Expediency Council Mohsen Rezayee underlined the necessity for lowering Iran’s reliance on oil revenues, and called for people’s stronger role in the country’s economy in a bid to confront western sanctions and pressures.

Addressing an economic conference in Iran’s Northern city of Semnan on Friday, Rezayee pointed to sanctions and pressures imposed on Iran by the West, and said, “Having had a single-product economy and overreliance on crude oil sales led to the emergence of the sanctions.”

He stated that Iran’s economy is state-run and is not a people’s economy, and added, “A non-single-product economy that would not be state-run and dependent on the people would not be subjected to any type of sanctions.”

“If the Iranian economy would change its path and become self-sufficient and nation-based, then the type of dialogue of the enemies with Iran would differ and they would begin to realize that rather than deleting the sanctions drop by drop, they would have to lift them all at once.”

Late in February, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Iran plans to decrease the share of oil revenues in its next year state budget.

“Role of oil revenues as well as government spending in the next Iranian calendar’s budget bill have been decreased. Government has plans to diversify its revenue sources,” Ahmadinejad said at the time.

“Execution of the second phase of targeted subsidies plan as well as the raise of non-oil exports are some of the best ways for decreasing the oil revenues role in the country’s economy,” Ahmadinejad told Iranian state TV.

The Iranian president further noted that enemy plots to put pressure on Iranian economy is under control, and called on the Iranian nation to protect their solidarity against enemy pressures and divisive plots.

Many Iranian officials believe that the West’s ban on Iranian oil supplies will help Iranian economy end its dependence on oil revenues.

In December, a senior Iranian legislator had said that officials plan to decrease reliance on oil revenues in the next year state budget to one million barrels a day, adding that the country will try to increase its income in the non-oil export sector, instead.

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