Plan to ‘Increase Gasoline Prices’ in Kish and Qeshm; Parliamentarian: November 2019 Will Not Repeat
ILNA news agency has reported that increasing gasoline prices “will be implemented as a pilot program in Kish and Qeshm”.
Fereydoun Abbasi, representative of Kazerun in parliament, told the news agency that since incomes in these areas are different, “it might be appropriate” to implement the gasoline price increase plan on a trial basis “in these locations”. Without referring to the amount of gasoline price increase, he said that “ignorance and mismanagement of November 2019 will not be repeated” and the model that occurred in November 2019 “was implemented incorrectly”.
The November 2019 protests were the bloodiest political-social event in Iran over the past four decades, occurring following a sudden increase in gasoline prices. These protests quickly changed direction and targeted the government and Ali Khamenei, the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, at its head, but were met with severe suppression and direct gunfire at protesters.
Amnesty International has so far published the names of 324 people killed in these incidents. Reuters news agency reported that same year, citing sources in Iran’s Interior Ministry, that up to 1,500 people were killed during these protests.
Meanwhile, the Trade News website reported that the government intends to implement the “One” plan in Kish and Qeshm islands. Based on this plan, “gasoline quota would be allocated to family members instead of vehicles, and individuals would themselves decide whether to sell or keep their quota”.
ILNA news agency also reported, referring to the announcement of the implementation of this plan in Kish and Qeshm islands: “The gasoline price offered [by individuals] in the energy market will be outside the quota” and “the price may be determined based on supply and demand levels and systematically”.
Iran’s gasoline exports in the previous solar year grew by approximately 6 times due to the decline in domestic consumption caused by the coronavirus outbreak and quarantine, reaching nearly 3 billion dollars, but during the current year, gasoline consumption has increased again and Iran has significantly reduced gasoline exports in recent months.
The Ebrahim Raisi government allocated 186 trillion tomans in revenue for the export of petroleum products in the 2022 budget, but allocated 74 trillion tomans for domestic sales of petroleum products.
A comparison of these two figures shows that while only one-fifth of Iran’s petroleum products are exported, their revenue for the government is more than two and a half times greater than domestic petroleum product sales.
Reports about proposing a plan for a drastic increase in gasoline prices in Iran were published earlier this year, but the spokesman for Iran’s National Oil Products Distribution Company said “there is no news of gasoline price increases and no decision has been made in this regard”.
Source: Radio Farda
