Iran's government is starting the phased removal of fuel subsidies with cash payments into personal accounts Tuesday, a semi-official news agency said on the same day.
Iran
's
government is starting the phased removal of fuel subsidies with cash payments
into personal accounts Tuesday, a semi-official news agency said on the same
day.
"Cash subsidies will be credited to people's accounts in the provinces of
North
Khorasan
,
South Khorasan
and Khorasan Razavi Tuesday," the Mehr news
agency said. "People in other provinces will receive cash subsidies within
two weeks."
The measure has long been announced but the exact timing of its implementation
was unclear. The move comes after
U.S.
sanctions enacted this summer on the country's gasoline imports and has sparked
fears of a repeat of 2007 riots over petrol rationing.
Under a subsidy reform plan adopted by Parliament prior to the gasoline
sanctions,
Iran
plans
to eliminate the subsidies on fuel, electricity and basic goods over five
years. But to make up for any financial hardship suffered by the less well-off
families, they will receive direct cash payments to their bank accounts.
Heavy-fuel subsidies have long been considered a birthright in oil-rich
Iran
.
That changed when in 2007, the government rationed private motorists to make up
for the impact of mounting sanctions. Iranians reacted by setting fire to
petrol stations in
Tehran
.
Iran
has
reacted to the latest round of sanctions over its nuclear program by increasing
gasoline output, including a move of temporarily converting petrochemicals unit
into refineries.
However,
Iran
's
economy is under increasing strain from the sanctions, from inflation,
joblessness, and mounting shortages.
The West suspects
Iran
's
nuclear program has a military purpose, which the country denies.
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