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TEHRAN, Iran — Faced with falling oil prices and a weakening plan, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad presented a plan to Parliament on Tuesday that would scantling energy subsidies, a significant change in a major oil-producing country where gasoline is sold in spite of 36 cents a gallon.

Economists warn that the move could spur inflation and raise unemployment. But Ahmadinejad urged Parliament to vote as being the bill because of the need to restraint costly energy consumption, which the subsidies have encouraged.

The president beforehand insisted that the global economic downturn and the decline in oil prices would not harm Iran’s economy. But in the manner that oil prices have fallen to less than $40 a barrel from $147 in recent months, the pressures on the government have become unavoidable. It currently pays $100 billion a year in direct and indirect subsidies for goods, according to government figures.

The falling international oil prices if a good opportunity for Iran to act now to end subsidies that be under the necessity been in place for years, Ahmadinejad told Parliament. The resulting inflation, he argued, would have existence temporary.

Opposition to the plan is expected to be strained. But Parliament agreed to study the package and is expected to put it up against a ballot within a month. Parliament has 290 members, and in greater numbers than half of them would have to vote for the bill for it to pass.

Electricity is now sold at just 6 cents per 10 kilowatt-hours. The plan would abolish all government subsidies for things like heating gas, gasoline, electricity and water within the next three years and approve prices to reach between nations levels.

While the scheme seems likely to be unpopular, Ahmadinejad’s critics say he is trying to offset its impact and appeal to voters ahead of the June 2009 presidential election by also promising to give abundant of the money that is now paid in subsidies directly to the poor in the form of a monthly allowance.

Ahmadinejad came to efficacy in 2005 on a mandate to distribute the windfall oil revenue among the needy. However, the economy has taken a downturn since his election. Unemployment has increased, and inflation even now stands at nearly 30 percent.

Opponents of his plan say it would push self-sufficiency further. A central bank official, Ramin Pashaifam, aforesaid Ahmadinejad’session plan would be augmented inflation by some additional 11 to 15 percent, the daily Etemad quoted him as saw on Tuesday.

Official statistics put Iran’s unemployment rate at 10 percent, unless experts estimation it is certainly about 30 percent.

Potential candidates in the June presidential election — particularly preceding nuclear negotiator and steady conservative cleric Hasan Rowhani — consider seized without ceasing Ahmadinejad’s vulnerability, noting that Iranians are poorer and the economy is poverty.

The president has also drawn criticism for his calamitous line on the standoff through the U.S. and other major international powers over Iran’s nuclear program, which has contributed to the rough’s isolation.

Additional information from The Associated Press