We have no way but austerity
Those in power are used to creating budget lines for insiders by relying on oil revenues.
Dr. Musa Ghaninejad
@eghtesaderooz
Dependence of Iran’s economy on oil is a problem with a long history. This dependence has gradually emerged and taken root. For this reason, it cannot be easily removed. In the last forty and fifty years, on average, about 30% of the government’s budget has been provided from oil sources. It is clear that the sudden zeroing of the share of oil revenues from the government budget due to economic sanctions and the difficulty of selling oil creates a problem because it is not possible to easily and suddenly replace oil revenues with other sources. This is the problem we are currently facing.
In this situation, the problem before us is that politicians have become dependent on oil revenues and are used to it. Dependence on oil revenues has been very pleasant for governments in the last half century; Continuous oil revenues have been provided to the government with minimal effort, and it has made the government unnecessary to bargain with the people to collect taxes. On the other hand, special spending with oil revenues has been very pleasant for politicians.
People in power are used to creating budget lines for their insiders, i.e. their relatives, by relying on oil revenues. The habit of using oil revenues in this way has been rooted in the fabric of politics in our country during the last half century. Obviously, today it is not easy to get rid of this habit.
However, in the current situation where there is no more hope for oil revenues, economic austerity is the only solution, at least in the short term, and the first thing the government should do is to start austerity from budgets that do not have an economic and social function. Currently, in the budget structure of the country, there are dozens of cultural and propaganda institutions and institutions with a bigger budget than the budget of the Ministry of Guidance. Today, it is really time to cut the budget for such devices and austerity starts here. Of course, these institutions are influential institutions that are used to possessing resources without accounting, but now is the time to reconsider this practice.
One of the devices that receives a huge budget from the government is Sedavsim. Sadaosima receives a large budget from the government, while it itself has a high income from advertisements, and in addition, by not paying the right to broadcast football matches, it makes the clubs dependent on the government budget. In austerity conditions, the task of such institutions should be clarified once and for all. In addition to cultural and preaching institutions, there are dozens of parallel institutions in other fields, the necessity of establishing many of them is not clear; Institutions that are often created based on power relations and use large budgets. Why should they be funded? Austerity should start here.
The other side of the issue is trying to generate income. I have said many times that we currently have organizations that are paid for, but they hinder people’s productive work. It is obvious that we should suspend and close these organizations so that people can do productive work, produce goods and services, and create employment and added value. Today, in a situation where the government is in a tight spot, it should open the way for the private sector to at least use its own potential facilities by removing the institutions that are blocking the way for the private sector. To pass this critical period, we must take action; There is no point in saying anything else.
@eghtesaderooz
This post is written by Ssmh22