Severe budget deficit in Iran; Ayatollah Khamenei's representation in universities received "double the budget line" of money

While, according to the report of the General Treasury of Iran, the government of the country is facing a severe budget and revenue deficit, the "Iran Open Database" announced in an investigative report that the institution representing Ayatollah Khamenei in universities received about twice the amount of the budget line projected in 1400.

According to the government budget bill for 1400, "about 211 billion tomans" was allocated for the Supreme Leader's representative body, but this figure has increased to "more than 413 billion tomans" in the Islamic Consultative Assembly.

Research by the "Iran Open Database" shows that the Supreme Leader's representative body in universities has also received "50 billion tomans" in subsidies.

Also, according to official statistics, despite the 20-month closure of Friday prayers due to restrictions caused by the coronavirus, the budget of the Friday Imams' Policy Council has also "doubled" in this one year.

The Friday Prayer Policy Council is the only propaganda organization under the supervision of the Leader of the Islamic Republic that receives funding from the country's general budget, but no detailed report on its financial performance is published.

Another costly project under the supervision of Ayatollah Khamenei is the Shiite religious city projects in Iraq, with "at least 68 projects" reportedly underway.

In November 2013, Reuters reported in a report titled "Ayatollah Khamenei Controls a $95 Billion Empire," that the leader of the Islamic Republic controls a financial empire, or more simply, a mega-corporation called the "Imam's Command Executive Headquarters," which is worth over $95 billion, more than the current annual oil export revenue of the oil-rich country of Iran.

The doubling of the budget allocation for some institutions under the control of Ayatollah Khamenei comes at a time when the spokesman for the Islamic Consultative Assembly's Program and Budget Commission announced on October 3 that the resources for the 1400 budget have been exhausted and the government must submit a supplementary budget bill to the parliament.

According to Tasnim News Agency, Mohammad Mehdi Mofatteh said, "The sources and expenditures of the 1400 budget are not balanced" and that the balance "was accompanied by a series of assumptions on paper," but now that half of the year has passed, it has become clear that the intended "possibilities" for securing revenue "have not been realized and the government is facing numerous problems."

Gholamreza Mesbahi Moghadam, a member of the Expediency Discernment Council of the Islamic Republic, announced this summer a "budget deficit of 400 trillion tomans."

Previously, the head of the Economic Commission of the Islamic Consultative Assembly had also said that the 1401 budget bill would be submitted to the parliament by the government after the structural reforms desired by Ayatollah Khamenei.

This bill will be submitted to the parliament by December 5th.

Source: Voice of America