The Iranian parliament has approved the issue of $20bn in bonds – $10bn by the Ministry of Petroleum and $10bn by the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) – to finance oil and gas projects in the budget for the current year, which began on 21 March. In previous years Iran has often announced bond issues to finance its hydrocarbon industry projects, but it has failed to give any follow up on how well they were received by potential subscribers.
The general outline of the state budget itself, which projects expenditure of IR7,305 trillion ($596bn at the official rate of $1=IR12,260, $209bn at the free market rate – see below), was approved on 16 April. The budget is still being debated in parliament and the final approval is yet to come. (CONTINUED - 773 WORDS)
