Energy, wheat consumption decline in Iran after subsidy reform plan

TEHRAN,Dec.21(MNA)--Gasoline, gas oil, furnace oil and wheat consumption in Iran have fallen by 6 percent, 10 percent, 36 percent and 26 percent, respectively, after implementing the Subsidy Reform Plan, the deputy economy minister, Mohammadreza Farzin stated. Iran plans to exclude wealthy Iranians of receiving subsidies in the near future, Farzin told . “We will concentrate in the coming months on removing subsidies of those strata of the society who do not need cash payments according to the law,” he added. We are currently working to identify the wealthy people who have been registered by relevant organizations, he added. The subsidy reform plan, launched in December 2010, allows the Iranian government to gradually slash subsidies on fuel, electricity, and certain goods over the course of five years, with low-income families being compensated with direct cash handouts.