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Coll 28/3(2) ‘Persia. Financial situation.’ [178r] (355/817)
The record is made up of 1 file (407 folios). It was created in 7 Sep 1938-1 Jan 1946. It was written in English and French. The original is part of the British Library: India Office The department of the British Government to which the Government of India reported between 1858 and 1947. The successor to the Court of Directors. Records and Private Papers Documents collected in a private capacity. .
Transcription
This transcription is created automatically. It may contain errors.
a deficit for the current year in the ordinary operaiions of the Govern
ment amounting to about 1,406,923,441 Rials. In the operation of the com
mercial enterprises, including the factories and the activities carried on by
the Ministry of Food, we can not at the present time foresee either a cash
surplus or a cash deficit, although stocks of goods will be on hand at the
end of the year valued at a very substantial sum. The deficit for all govern
mental operations is therefore estimated at 1,406,923,441 Rials.
These figures do not include any estimate for general increases of
salaries. All agree that such increases are absolutely necessary to extend
law and order in the country, to restore efficiency and honesty among the
employees, and to insure the collection of the revenues, on which the so
lution of the financial problem ultimately depends. An increase of only
50 per cent in the present salaries will require an additional expenditure
of about 500.000,000 Rials. Adding this figure, we estimate a total deficit
for the year of about 1.900,000,000 Rials.
This amount can not be obtained by the Iranian Government either
by taxation or by internal borrowing.
If prices can be stabilized, we hope that next year the budget can
be balanced by reduction in the budget, and by an increase of tax reven
ues and of income from the commercial enterprises and factories. Of the
tax projects that have been or will be submitted to the Majless the most
important is the income-tax project. We are unable to make any estimates
of the revenue from the new income taxes, because we do not know when
or in what form the law will be passed. If it were passed promptly, essen
tially as submitted, it would take a considerable time to get the law into
effective operation. A complete reorganization of the Internal Revenue Ad
ministration both at the center and in the provinces is first necessary.
Such a reorganization can not be completed in a day.
The power of the Government to borrow from the Banque Mellie
is now practically exhausted. The Government owes the Bank an amount
of about 3,200,000.000 Rials, most of which was borrowed in previous years.
Up to about seven months ago, when an Act was passed by the Majless
requiring 100 per cent reserve for the notes issued, the only condition for
government borrowing from the Banque Mellie was the approval of the
Majless, and the only limit to the Banks lending power was the amount
of printed notes held by the Bank. Since the passage of that Act, the
About this item
- Content
Papers reporting on the financial situation in Iran, sent by staff at the British Legation at Tehran (Horace James Seymour; Reader William Bullard) to the Foreign Office, London. The file is a direct chronological continuation of Coll 28/3 ‘Persia. Financial situation’ (IOR/L/PS/12/3394).
The file includes:
- Covering letters enclosing copies of the monthly Bulletin , produced by the Bank Melli Iran (also referred to as the Mellié Iran Bank, and Banque Mellié Iran). The copies of Bulletin are not included in the file (although some front covers do survive), however the covering letters give short summaries of their lead articles.
- Details and estimates for Iran’s annual budgets, with numerous statistical tables.
- Correspondence dated December 1939 to February 1940 relating to irrevocable documentary confirmed credits (irrevocable letters of credit) opened by Bank Melli Iran through banks in India (ff 356-361).
- Copies of laws passed by the Iranian Parliament, including a law relating to war credits and treasury bills (in French, f 334), a Law for the Prevention of Hoarding (ff 325-329) and an Income Tax Law (ff 262-271).
- Correspondence and budget reports dated 1943-1944, produced during the takeover of the administration of Iran’s Finance Ministry by a mission from the United States, led by Arthur Chester Millspaugh.
At the front of the file (ff 4-200) are fourteen monthly reports of the Administrator General of the Finances of Iran (Millspaugh), produced according to the Solar Hijri calender, and dating from Ordibehesht 1322 (equivalent to the Gregorian calendar date of 22 April to 22 May 1943) to Mehr 1323 (23 September to 22 October 1944). The reports, which also contain lists of staff of the Iranian Ministry of Finance and its connected organisations, summarise Iranian finances. Many of the reports contain a map of Iran (for example, folio 185), showing borders, roads and railways, major towns and cities, and districts, which are numbered 1 to 10.
- Extent and format
- 1 file (407 folios)
- Arrangement
The papers are arranged in approximate chronological order from the rear to the front of the file. The file’s correspondence begins at folio 202 and ends at folio 407. Printed reports occupy the front portion of the file (with an enclosing note, ff 4-201), and are also arranged in reverse chronological order.
- Physical characteristics
Foliation: the foliation sequence for this description commences at the inside front cover with 1, and terminates at the last folio with 408; these numbers are written in pencil, are circled, and are located in the top right corner of the recto The front of a sheet of paper or leaf, often abbreviated to 'r'. side of each folio. A previous foliation sequence, which is also circled, has been superseded and therefore crossed out.
- Written in
- English and French in Latin script View the complete information for this record
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Copyright: How to use this content
- Reference
- IOR/L/PS/12/3396
- Title
- Coll 28/3(2) ‘Persia. Financial situation.’
- Pages
- 187r:200v, 176r:186v, 162r:175v, 149r:161v, 138r:148v, 126r:137v, 109r:125v, 84r:108v, 68r:83v
- Author
- Bank Melli Iran
- Usage terms
- The copyright status is unknown. Please contact [email protected] with any information you have regarding this item.