The Iranian parliament on Thursday, May 17 approved state's total budget bill for the current Iranian year (started March 20) with a ceiling of 5,660,000 billion rials ($462 billion), state-run IRNA news agency reported.

The bill was passed after 14 sessions in 8 days, with 123 votes in favor, 46 against and 14 abstentions.

The budget is about 9% less than that approved in the previous calendar year. This is a result of the new official exchange rate of the U.S dollar, which has increased to 12,260 rials to the dollar. The Iranian currency has lost much of its value because of Western sanctions over Iran's nuclear program.