TEHRAN, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Iran's Guardian Council, a powerful legislative body, approved the controversial subsidy reform bill to cut government subsidies on key consumer goods, the semi-official Fars news agency reported Wednesday.

    The Guardian Council approved the bill in its latest meeting since it was not in contradiction with the constitution and with the Islamic law, Abbas-Ali Kadkhodaei, spokesman of the Guardian Council, told Fars without more elaboration.

    The Iranian Majlis (parliament) recently passed the subsidy reform bill, advocated by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, with many modifications and the bill was sent to the Guardian Council, the legislative body that can veto any law passed by the Majlis, for final approval.

    The economic reform plan is aimed at cutting government subsidies on key consumer goods, including energy and bread, and redistributing the saved money among low-income families.

    Ahmadinejad has claimed that if the plan is implemented, "there will be no poor person in the country" and the public's economic status will "definitely improve."

    However, a number of Iranian financial experts and economists have raised concern that scrapping subsidies may cause further inflation to have negative impact on the lives of the people and on the economy.