Tasnim- Mostafa Hashemitaba, one of the six candidates running for Iran’s presidency, said the cash handouts to the public should be scrapped in order to combat underdevelopment.

Speaking in a televised program on Thursday night, Hashemitaba voiced strong opposition to cash handouts, stressing that the subsidy reform plan should be carried out in a targeted manner.

The subsidies should be distributed meaningfully and be offered to the charity organizations and welfare services to tackle poverty in an appropriate manner, he underlined.

He also reiterated the call for a major reform of the country’s banking system, which he said suffers from a complicated and unclear structure that paves the way for corruption.

Hashemitaba, 70, has been campaigning for the May 19 election in a race with five other candidates, including Hassan Rouhani, Mohammad Baqer Qalibaf, Ebrahim Raisi, Mostafa Aqa-Mirsalim, and Eshaq Jahangiri.