Mullah Mesbahi Moghaddam, head of the Planning and Budget Commission in Iran’s Majlis (parliament) said, “To this day only around 7% of the population have signed on requesting not to receive cash subsidies”.
The state-run Tasnim news agency, affiliated to the IRGC Quds Force, reported on April 19th emphasizing 40% of the people must sign on to receive subsidies in order to make sure the second phase of the targeted subsidies elimination plan goes smoothly. The government may want to take action itself and identify individuals and decrease the number of people signing on.”
Mesbahi Moghadam then admitted to the failure of the second phase of the targeted subsidies elimination plan and said, “If we advance with the current trend, considering the slow pace of price reforms it is quite possible that the second phase of the targeted subsidies elimination will actually not succeed.”