Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah, the executive deputy of the president, in response to rumors about increasing the gasoline price to 80,000 tomans, announced that this proposal is not on the government's agenda at all. He stated that currently, balancing the prices of gasoline and diesel is not on the table, and pointed to the necessity of coordination between fuel prices and the salaries of employees.
Challenges of Balancing Fuel Prices
Ghaempanah added: "If we want to balance fuel prices, we must also balance the salaries of employees, retirees, and other segments of society." These remarks refer to the existing economic challenges in the country, where price inequalities between fuel and national incomes have led to serious problems.
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Furthermore, the executive deputy of the president referred to his recent visit to the headquarters for combating smuggling of goods and currency, stating: "During this visit, the daily smuggling of 30 million liters of gasoline and diesel was discussed." He emphasized that this level of smuggling is due to the price difference of fuel in Iran and neighboring countries.
Solutions to Combat Smuggling
Ghaempanah pointed out that to combat fuel smuggling, energy carrier prices must be distributed fairly. He said: "The corruption bottleneck is the price difference between Iran and neighboring countries, and if it is not corrected, this smuggling will continue."
The executive deputy of the president stated that currently wealthy individuals benefit more from subsidies, adding: "This situation is not fair, and we must move towards balancing prices to establish economic justice." He also emphasized the need to identify corruption bottlenecks and corruption-generating factors in the economy, saying: "We have raised this idea to highlight the importance of identifying corruption bottlenecks with officials combating smuggling of goods and currency."
Ghaempanah concluded by noting that there is currently no proposal to increase gasoline prices on the government's agenda and stressed the importance of a comprehensive review of this issue. He emphasized that if we are looking to solve the issue of fuel smuggling, we must pay special attention to the distribution and pricing of energy carriers.
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