Al Monitor| Alireza Ramezani: The Iranian parliament has�called for a pause in issuing government bonds on capital markets, accusing the government of President Hassan Rouhani of using�the�bond market mechanism to shift debt to future administrations.�Rouhani�s financial team began issuing Islamic treasury bills, among other bonds, in February 2015 in an effort to pay off part�of Iran's�5,120 trillion rials ($158.3 billion) in accumulated debt. Critics argue that the administration is actually not paying off debt through this approach, but is only postponing�repayment.


�The government is in a debt spiral, building debt on debt,� Speaker Ali Larijani said at a recent parliamentary session, according to a Feb. 7 report in Iran's leading economic newspaper, Donya-e Eqtesad. The conservative speaker said he believes the bond market is not a reliable instrument for addressing budget deficits, calling instead for the administration to curb �overspending.�

The proposed�budget bill for the Iranian calendar year�beginning March 21�is still being discussed�in parliament. It is to be approved�in a few weeks. Despite the moderate bent of the parliament, a number of lawmakers, including the speaker, have criticized the budget for�overspending. Larijani said in a surprising�comment that almost two-thirds�of the next year�s spending is excessive.

Pro-Rouhani experts see these criticisms as politically motivated. Hassan Khoshpour, former manager of�the Management and Planning Organization, wrote Feb. 7 in Donya-e Eqtesad that there have always been issues with�budget planning�and that overspending and deficits are nothing new. Trying to ascertain why parliamentarians are therefore�blaming the Rouhani administration for what are essentially long-standing issues, he concluded�that interference�by lawmakers in the planning process is�one of the reasons behind Iran's budget-planning failures.