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We begin to night’s program with Dr Alireza Nourizadeh reading one of his poems from his collected works.
Dr. Alireza Nourizadeh:
Tonight we speak to the economist Dr Manouchehr Farahbakhsh about the new budget that Rouhani has put together for the Majles, while the country is in an economic mess and strikes are taking place in every corner of it.
Dr Manouchehr Farahbakhsh:
They have been talking about this year ‘s budget so much that it has lost its meaning and become irrelevant.
However, the significance of this year’s budget is that unlike all its previous years this time it has been drawn up after it was submitted to Khamenei’s office for approval, which makes the Rouhani government a true stooge of the supreme leader and with no independent power.
Further more they have now increased the budget for the Revolutionary Guard and cut down on the army’s budget. May be they do not expect any war snd think the Guards are more important if it ever happens.
The only source of revenue for the country is its oil exports which is currently under US sanctions and strains.
So when there is less revenue the we have a more limited budget for everything. That means no matter what the Rouhani government does to fix a budget or how much the Khamenei office tries to change or influence it, at the end of the day the US pressure is drawing up the regime’s budget!
