Iran Among 6 Major Countries Subsidizing Fossil Fuels: IMF

Iran pays more than US$62 billion for directly subsidizing fossil fuels annually, ranking 6th in the world in terms of the money paid for fuel subsidies, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) reported.

In its latest report on the situation of payment of energy subsidies in the world, the international monetary body has introduced Iran as the sixth subsidizer in the world for the consumption of fossil fuels.

According to this report, provided on the basis of statistics in 2022, the Iranian government has paid US$62.7 billion in direct energy subsidies to its citizens in the reported year, which is more than any other country in the world except China, Indonesia, Russia, South Korea and Saudi Arabia.

The IMF put the amount of subsidies paid by the Iranian government to its citizens on electricity consumption in 2022 at US$13.9 billion. In addition, Iran paid US$48.8 billion worth of direct subsidies to its citizens on consumption of gasoline and other oil products, the report added.

In general, six countries including Iran, Russia, China, Indonesia, South Korea and Saudi Arabia accounted for almost half of the total energy subsidies in the world. They paid a total of US$673 billion worth of direct subsidies to their citizens for fuel consumption, the IMF added. - Tasnim, IRNA