The Majlis representative from Ghazvin, Ghodratollah Alikhani spoke with Rooz about the vote this week to reject the administration’s budget supplemental bill on subsidies was the law makers’ response to the threats by the president against them.
Two weeks ago, a special Majlis committee reduced the government’s bill requesting $34 billion for directly providing the public with subsidy money to $8 billion. But after president Ahmadinejad wrote a letter to Majlis Speaker Larijani threatening that the Majlis could only accept the original bill as it was presented or reject it altogether, rather than making any amendments to it, lawmakers decided to take the latter course and voted against the bill.
Explaining his view on the administration’s bill, Alikhani said, “If the bill were passed, it would have a serious inflationary effect on the public, particularly the lower groups in society, which could lead to even greater problems, which we gladly averted.” The lawmaker said that with the bill defeated, there was nothing the administration could do in this regard and the decision now rested with the Majlis, which has at least for now decided to rest the issue.
In response to the question as to what is the most important issue facing the public on the eve of the upcoming presidential elections in June, Alikhani said, “Their number one problem is economy and making ends meet. They want an opening in the pressures on their daily life. They hope that their dreams in this regard will be fulfilled.”
Regarding the falling oil prices and consequently the shrinking revenues for the state, Alikhani said that if the administration made preparations for this then no serious problems would come up. Asked if such provisions existed, he said, “They don’t exist. During the war years, we witnessed a time when we managed the war despite very low oil sales and solved the problems of the time. Today, we need plans by authorities and trust from the public. The public must have trust that officials have the ability to solve problems.”
