Amid Shortages, Iran Claims No Budget Problem To Import Medicine

The Central Bank of Iran announced that it has allocated nearly $3 billion since March to imports medicines, pharmaceutical raw materials, and medical equipment and supplies. 

However, reports from Iran in recent weeks have indicated shortages of medicine and a sudden increase in the price of cancer drugs.

Mostafa Qamarivafa, the director of public relations in Iran’s Central Bank, said that $2.2 billion of the allocated amount has already been spent since the beginning of the Iranian year (starting March 21, 2023). In the government-controlled Iranian economy, the state subsidizes the imports of medicine by offering cheaper dollars for imports.

Also, a total of $156,000,000 of preferential currency subsidy has been allocated this year to import powdered milk, raw materials and health supplements, Qamarivafa added. However, there are reports of shortages of baby formula and a rationing at pharmacies.

These remarks run counter to the reports earlier in the day about the exorbitant prices and the severe shortages of cancer drugs in Iran.

Shargh newspaper in Tehran reported that the sudden increase in the price of cancer drugs has shocked patients. The reason of the unexpected hike seems to be the sudden removal of governmental currency subsidies, Shargh quoted some pharmacists as saying.

This is while the deputy chief of the Central Bank of Iran, Mohamamd Shirijian, said on October 17 that the country's foreign reserves are increasing due to the growth of oil and non-oil exports in spite of US sanctions.

The claims seem in contradiction to a report by reformist daily Ham-Mihan released on October 16 that forecasted a budget deficit twice as big as the figure in the previous year.