While submitting the bill, President Ahmadinejad will brief the parliamentarians on general outlines and orientation of the document.



The First Vice-President Parviz Davoodi, Vice-President for Strategic Planning and Supervision Affairs Amir Mansoor Borqei, Government Spokesman Gholam-Hossein Elham, Ministers of Labor Mohammad Jahromi, of Culture and Islamic Guidance Mohammad-Hossein Saffar Harandi, of Oil Gholam-Hossein Nozari, of Housing Mohammad Saeedikia, and of Communication and Information Technology Mohammad Soleymani as well as Deputy Interior Minister Mohammad-Hossein Moussapour were also present in the Majlis session.



The cabinet had ratified the budget bill in its January 2 session.



Vice-President for Strategic Planning and Supervision Affairs Amir Mansoor Borqei, had already said the next year budget ceiling is about rls 710 trillion with the state companies' budget being more than rls 2,000 trillion.



Majlis Speaker Gholam-Hossein Haddad-Adel chaired Monday's Majlis session.





President: Next year's budget bill takes new shape



President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Monday that the budget bill for the next Iranian fiscal year of 1387 (March 21, 2008-March 20, 2009) has been prepared in a new form.



In an address to Majlis prior to submission of the rls 2,710 trillion (USD289 billion) budget bill, President Ahmadinejad said the non-transparency, complexity in process of implementation and non-division of responsibilities are major criticisms raised about the country's budgeting system.



Submitting the bill to Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel, President Ahmadinejad said budget is the most important and precise document that is investigated and released in Iran annually. "The budget law is the country's annual plan of action," he said.





President: Complexities in budgeting system provoke evasions



President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Monday that complexities in implementation of the budget law, at which major source of criticisms has been directed, encourage evasion.



"Budget is so complex that anybody intending to evade goals of the plan, as well as orientations of the Majlis and government, would do it just by relying on the same law. This is because when something becomes complex, ways to evade it would become much easier," said the president.



To testify the "evasive" nature of the country's budgeting system, President Ahmadinejad cited examples from the the budget law for the current Iranian year 1386 (March 21, 2007-March 20, 2008).



"There are cases in the 1386 budget law which give the government a free hand to divert funds from the Oil Stabilization Fund (OSF) as much as it wishes. The government, however, has not done so...



because we know that the goal of the legislative body and the government is limited use of the forex resources," said the president.



He said the complexity creates problems for planners and key decision makers, who want to make speedy and snap decisions.



He added that the complexities are also time consuming for the Majlis and the government. "Just within the body of the government, 14 half days were spent on the notes. At the Majlis and its commissions almost whole Majlis time was spent on the notes. Excluding two or three key notes, the rest of the notes cost us rls 6,500 billion."

He said another problem with the budgeting system is non-division of responsibilities and authorities.



"More than 610 organs in the country have been formed and each of them have their own responsibility and devise independent agreements with the presidential planning department," he noted.



"How can you control 610 organs? How can you formulate policies and goals for them and guide them from a single concentrated point?" questioned the president.



Tens of organs, institutions, groups, complexes and organizations have been formed to serve different sectors, said the president, adding that all the bodies have independent budgets, make their own policies and act on their own and are not accountable to anybody.



He added that nearly rls 2,000 billion under different names in this year's budget have been allocated for the culture sector.





President: Traditional budget difficult due to complexities



President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Monday that implementation of the traditional form of the state budget laws has been hard due to complexities and mixture of different fields and responsibilities.

 

President Ahmadinejad said for the first time ever this year, the government identified executive organs in a bid to make the national budgeting system clear and transparent.



He said that in connection with the bid, the organs active under supervision of the Supreme Leader, Majlis, the Judiciary, Expediency Council, Guardian Council and the military and disciplinary organs were identified and separated from the other related bodies.



He added that in the second phase, ministers and vice-presidents were identified, whose number stood at 39 eventually. The number reached 69 when governors general offices were added to the whole.



The chief executive said there are now 610 organs receiving budget in the country.



Elsewhere in his remarks, President Ahmadinejad said among other criticisms of the budget system had been the impossibility of saving. "That's due to enormous cases of repeated tasks. For instance, we have now tens up to hundreds of titles of repeated research works. Through adequate and necessary measures redundant cases can be prevented."

Citing budget drafting for the executive organs as a "victory", the President said all efforts should be directed at proper use of the budget and not to receipt of the budget.



He added that complexities in budgeting have also given rise to problems in drawing priorities.





President: Next year budget bill transparent



President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Monday that the budget bill for the next Iranian fiscal year of 1387 (March 21, 2008-March 20, 2009) is "transparent" because the field of responsibilities has become almost clear in it.



The president, submitting the next year's rls 2,710 trillion (USD289 billion) budget bill to the Majlis, said the bill has been offered in 600 pages.



He said he hoped that as of next year, budget bills for the coming years will be presented to the Majlis in 50 or 60 pages.





Budget bill to be presented to Majlis open session Feb 11



Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel said here Monday that the budget bill for the next fiscal year of 1387 (to start March 21, 2008) will be offered to Majlis open session by February 11 for approval by late February.



Attending a joint press conference along with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Haddad-Adel said the timetable for review of the document will go into effect as of today, Monday.



He said the Majlis presiding body has set a precise timetable for investigation and ratification of the bill until late February and it will be publicized after the Guardian Council's approval.



He added that next year's budget bill is symbolized by transparency and responsibility.



He hoped that the way the next year budget has been devised would serve as a positive step towards reforms in the state's budgeting system.



He noted that in the near future, the president will be invited to the Majlis to present a report on progresses made in the Fourth Five-Year Economic Development Plan (2005-10).



Rise in development expenditures main cause of budget growth



President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Monday that growth in the budget for the development sector is the main cause of growth in the budget for the next fiscal year of 1387 (March 21, 2008-March 20, 2009).



President Ahmadinejad said in a speech at the Majlis after submission of the rls 2,710 trillion (USD289 billion) budget bill that this year's budget has no notes but a single and very clear article, so that Majlis deputies would have enough time to look into and investigate the included tables, which have been well summarized and classified.



He said the budget levels have been decreased to a large extent, reaching one fifth or one sixth of the annual figure. The portion will be omitted from the budget level as of next year, he added.



The president said among distinctive features of the next year budget bill are: Attention to growing awareness and knowledge, to science and technology and its application in the country, activation of the economic capacities, export and promotion of the non-oil exports, fair distribution of budget, removal of

discrimination, poverty control, decentralization, raising people's purchasing power, cutting inflation and restructuring the government system.



He added that the budget also pays special attention to the public transportation sector based on Majlis approval and government directive; energy consumption control; housing and house building, full commissioning of the half-finished projects, development of the irrigation networks, facilitating marriage of the youth, respecting Iran's Islamic culture and developing tourism.



He put total general expenditures at rls 715,000 billion with the state companies taking a share of rls 2,030,000 billion in the budget.



He added that the Majlis has diverted an annual fund of rls 100,000 billion for five years for development of the public transportation sector.





Ahmadinejad: 30 pc growth in development budget in next year's budget bill



President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Monday that the development budget shows 30 percent growth in the budget for next fiscal year of 1387 (March 21, 2008-March 20, 2009).



Addressing a press conference after submitting the rls 2,710 trillion (USD 389 billion) budget bill to Majlis, President Ahmadinejad said the budget bill also features lower share of the petrodollars in document.



President Ahmadinejad said the budget bill is oriented towards goals of the five-year plan.



He said that the non-oil revenues have gained more share in the bill.



The president thanked Majlis Speaker Gholam-Ali Haddad-Adel and Majlis in whole for expediting ratification of the next year's budget bill.



He went on to say that next year budget is fully transparent, easy-to-follow and implementable, giving a definite definition of responsibilities.



The president said the budget is least voluminous and devised in a way that Iranian nation from different walks of life would understand it.



He said total budget of government out of the general budget is rls 715,000 billion. The state companies too will have a budget of rls 2,030,000 billion, he added.



The Chief Executive said among other specifications of the next year budget bill are attention to water in the agriculture sector, change in the irrigation system and a three-fold rise in the irrigation and agriculture sectors. Furthermore, he said, a lot more land will be under water cultivation rather than rain cultivation.



He said promotion of the agricultural products' exports, more price support for the farming crops, qualitative growth of education, promotion of universities, decentralization of higher education, equipment of labs and educational workshops, and encouragement of research are highlights of the budget bill.



Both education sector and universities reserve a special position in the next year's budget.



Growing subsidies and maintaining the bottom level, attention to the public transport sector, implementation of key rural housing rojects, dedication of credit for housing, establishment of 1,500,000 residential buildings a year, dedication of a budget for youth marriage and employment, strong support for the cooperatives, export of the technical and engineering services, development of domestic and foreign investment, gas supply to different parts of the country, increase in the oil and gas production and the qualitative and quantitative growth of the oil and gas industries, support for domestic production and engagement with global economy, early retirement, state employees' salary, inflation control, and raising people's purchasing power are among other features of the next year budget bill.



He hoped that the bill will be adopted by Majlis prior to end of the current Iranian year and would be put at government disposal to help it compile necessary regulations, if any, for implementation.





Ahmadinejad: Gov't to put part of oil revenues at public disposal 



President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said here Monday that government plans to give part of oil revenues to people themselves per a related government-proposed bill.



Addressing Majlis which held a session on Monday for official submission of the next year's budget bill, President Ahmadinejad called on Majlis to help government in connection with ways and means of extending part of oil revenues to the public.



Elsewhere in his speech, President Ahmadinejad said more than rls 90,000 billion of the development budget next year will go to provinces.



Citing other indices of the next year budget bill, Ahmadinejad said the ratio of government expenditures to the Gross Domestic Production has lowered to 24.9 percent next year from 28.5 percent this year.



He said that share of tax revenues in next year budget has risen.



The share of general revenues, i.e. the non-oil revenues in government's consumption and current expenditures too has risen to 81.2 percent next year from 62.2 percent this year, said Ahmadinejad, adding that the share of current expenditures in total government expenditures has been dropped to 45.1 percent from 64.7 percent.



He pointed to a landmark increase in the cultural credits in the next year budget and said ownership of cultural assets too has shown 127 percent growth.



The chief executive said rls 300 billion has been set aside for construction of grand prayers grounds and rls 600 billion for that of mosques.



He then pointed to a budget of more than rls 12,000 billion for promotion of the cooperatives sector next year.



He said the number of the budget bill's pages has lowered to 600 this year from last year's more than 2,400 pages.

Tehran, Jan 7, IRNA