"The sanctions have created a good opportunity to move to have the budget bill more rely on non-oil income and make use of domestic capacities more," Director of the parliament's Research Center Kazzem Jalali told FNA in Tehran on Monday.
He called on the government to adopt additional measures to facilitate investment in non-oil sectors so that the country's dependence on oil revenues will reduce.
Many Iranian officials believe that the West's ban on Iranian oil supplies will help Iranian economy end its dependence on oil revenues.
"The sanctions imposed on us have created an opportunity to prepare the ground for cutting the connection between the (country's) budget and oil (revenues)," Vice-Speaker of the Iranian Parliament Hassan Aboutorabi-Fard said at an economic conference here in Tehran in March.
At the same time, Iran's First Vice-President Mohammad Reza Rahimi said that the country plans to boost its non-oil exports to $70bln in the next Iranian year (starts on March 20).
"The government targets $70 billion of non-oil exports in 1391 (March 20, 2012-March 20, 2013)," Rahimi said.
In March 2011, a senior Iranian economic official announced that the country plans to boost its non-oil exports to $301 billion within the next five years.
Iranian Deputy Commerce Minister Hamid Safdel stated at the time that Iran's non-oil exports, excluding gas condensates, will reach $301 billion in a five-year period.
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Publish Date: 29 October 2012 - 19:20
A senior Iranian lawmaker underlined the positive outcomes of sanctions and pressures on Iranian economy and oil sector, saying that pressures and embargos pave the way for Iran to reduce its dependence on oil revenues.