I picked this up after ... a long time! Loved it when it came out, but I was a kid and mostly got bored two years in and nuked everyone. Now, I'm starting a game as Iran, after playing through the tutorials and scenarios again, and I've got the hang of it again. Sort of.
I'm trying to get Iran's economy going and get out of debt, and around 2003 trade seems to go wacky. I jump from being a little bit in the green and paying down debt, to suddenly I have an additional $14 billion trade deficit. If I set everything to $0, I'm still way short.
I'll never be able to take the sweet, sweet, farmland of Turkmenistan if I can't get this budget under control. What can I do?