Iranian economy tied too hard to oil, commissioner says

The Iranian government should work to take oil revenue out of its total budget to protect the economy from market dynamics, a commissioner said Tuesday.

Hamid Farnam, the energy commissioner in the Iranian Chamber of Commerce, told the Oil Ministry's news website Shana the government should work to slowly push oil revenue out of the national budget.

"As long as we look at oil as a commodity for collecting revenues, not as a capital good, fluctuations in the world oil market will influence our economy," he said.

An assessment from the World Bank finds the Iranian economy is contracting. Sanctions imposed by Western powers on Iran's energy sector resulted in a 5.8 percent decline in gross domestic product last year.

The bank said the dependence on oil revenue makes the Iranian economy "intrinsically volatile."

Farnam said the government should work to cut the share of oil revenue in the total budget to nothing within a three- or four-year period.

Iran is limited by sanctions to around 1 million barrels of oil per day in exports. A bear market for oil prices leaves an Iranian economy exposed to short-term risks.