Iran's President Hassan Rouhani says the heads of the three branches of the state in Iran have decided to offer the country's oil for sale to private individuals in the Energy Exchange.
Rouhani had promised last week to announce an economic breakthrough. However, there have been many speculations, questions and doubts about the practicality of selling "oil bonds" to the people.
Rouhani said Tuesday morning August 11 that the heads of the executive, legislative and judiciary bodies, have ratified the general terms of the plan, but the administration of the process is to be finalized later.
As analysts had predicted earlier, the measure is aimed at "controlling the excessive liquidity and coping with sanctions." The government hopes that people holding close to $30 billion in foreign currency and a huge amount of rials will entrust the state with their savings, helping the government to narrow its budget deficit.
Rouhani said he hopes that the new plan will lead to positive developments in the area of employment and production.
Although the Rouhani has less than nine months before the next presidential election, he said that his administration will try to make the economy stable until its last day in office.Earlier, some Iranian lawmakers had expressed concern that that the plan might create problems for the Iran's next president and his administration., as Rouhani might be borrowing from the people, while his successor will be faced to pay for it.
In an analysis on Radio Farda on Monday, Dalga Khatinoglu said "although the government is hoping to collect Iranian and foreign currencies from the people in order to reduce liquidity and make up for the budget deficit, many uncertainties will dissuade ordinary people from investing in such a scheme."