Iran may face $44 billion budget deficit

Iran is expected to face a budget deficit this year of 540 trillion rials (about $44 billion), the Mehr News Agency quoted Iranian Parliamentary Economic Committee Chairman Gholamreza Mesbahi-Moqaddam as saying on Monday.

He rejected previous estimates of the budget deficit, saying that the figure is around 540 trillion rials, not 740 trillion rials (some $60 billion).

On Thursday, the Fars News Agency quoted Mesbahi-Moqaddam as saying that oil incomes have decreased and that the country is facing an unfavourable economic climate.