Iran submits first budget since US sanctions were restored

TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s president has submitted next year’s budget to parliament, the first after the United States renewed sanctions targeting the oil industry.

The $47.5 billion budget submitted Tuesday is less than half of last year’s, mainly due to the severe depreciation of the local currency following President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from the 2015 nuclear deal and restore U.S. sanctions. The Iranian rial has fallen from around 42,000 to the dollar a year ago to around 100,000 today.

The government plans to fund 35 per cent of the budget with oil revenues, projecting exports of up to 1.5 million barrels a day at a maximum of $54 a barrel. It did not say whether it projects a deficit.

President Hassan Rouhani says the sanctions will not bring Iran “to its knees.”