The price of free gasoline in Iran tripled
On the morning of November 14, the National Iranian Petroleum Distribution Company announced an increase in the price of free gasoline in the country.
According to the National Petroleum Products Distribution Company, the price of regular quota gasoline will be 1,500 tomans per liter and the price of regular non-quota gasoline will be 3,000 tomans per liter, while the price of super gasoline has been set at 3,500 tomans per liter.
The National Iranian Petroleum Products Distribution Company says that, based on a resolution of the Supreme Council for Economic Coordination of the Heads of State, it has rationed gasoline for all gasoline-powered vehicles.
Previously, non-quota gasoline was 1,000 tomans per liter.
According to the statement, "The monthly quota for gasoline-powered passenger cars will be 60 liters and for dual-fuel vehicles 30 liters. The monthly fuel quota for motorcycles has been set at 25 liters."
Iranian government officials say that 90 million liters of gasoline are consumed in the country daily.
Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, head of the Planning and Budget Organization, said Friday morning regarding the increase in gasoline prices: "In recent years, with the increasing consumption of gasoline, experts have commented that if gasoline is rationed and its price is also revised, it can control consumption, but the government has only revised prices twice in the past six years."
He said that the resources from the increase in gasoline prices were mainly used to pay for needy families covered by the Imam and Welfare Committee.
Previously, Iranian officials had announced the inevitability of gasoline price rationing.
In this context, Iran's Oil Minister said in February 2018 that "there is no other way" to fuel other than rationing and price increases, and that this price increase would be within the people's tolerance.
In the proposed budget for 2018, the Rouhani government also intended to increase the prices of energy carriers, but again, due to concerns about rising inflation, it did not pass a vote in parliament.
Recently, the Iranian Planning and Budget Organization published a report announcing the existence of 890 trillion tomans of visible and hidden subsidies in the country, and said that gasoline subsidies in 2019 are expected to exceed 123 trillion tomans.
The significant drop in Iran's oil revenues due to US sanctions and the collapse in exports has presented Hassan Rouhani's government with a problem.
Oil revenues account for 40% of the country's budget, and without them, the government is forced to cut spending, including subsidies.
Last year, Mohammad Bagher Nobakht, referring to the decline in Iranian oil sales due to US sanctions, said that the country's income had also decreased in the same proportion.
Denial of "Reports of Gas Stations Being Set on Fire"
Meanwhile, an informed official in Iran's Interior Ministry denied reports on Friday morning about "gathering or setting fire to several gas stations in some cities."
According to ISNA, the Interior Ministry official said, "Since the announcement of the new gasoline rationing, no such case has been reported."
The official added: "The news published in cyberspace regarding the burning of fuel stations in the provinces of Isfahan, East Azerbaijan, Khuzestan and other regions of the country is not true, and this news is being published on Twitter and cyberspace by some foreign accounts, and the publication of this news is aimed at inciting people and causing chaos in the country."
It is worth noting that images of a fire at a gas station have been published on social media, but ISNA news agency says these images are old.
On July 25, 2007, gasoline rationing caused people to flock to gas stations.
Some people's anger over the sudden announcement of gasoline rationing led to the setting fire to several gas stations in Tehran, Islamshahr, and a number of other major cities in Iran.
Source: Radio Farda
