Minimum wages will rise by 57.4% in the new Iranian year (starting March 21), says Minister of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare Hojjatollah Abdolmaleki.
“A worker with two children will receive at least 67.25 million rials [$261] [per month] next year, indicating a 53.7% increase compared with the current year. A 3.3-member household’s minimum wage will be 64.33 million rials [$250] in 2022-23, which is 24 million rials [$93] more than the current year’s,” he was quoted as saying by Dolat.ir.
The official noted that the absolute purchasing power of workers will be 9% more than the inflation rate and the increase in workers’ income will result in more productivity and demand, and consequently help the economy.
“As per the decision made in the latest meeting of Supreme Labor Council, which lasted for 14 hours, a worker’s monthly food coupon was set at 8.5 million rials ($33) and the housing allowance at 6.5 million rials ($25). Workers of other pay levels [above the minimum] will see a rise of 38%,” he said.
The Statistical Center of Iran’s latest report on the inflation rate shows the annualized inflation has maintained its monthly downtrend after registering a high of 45.4% in the month to Oct. 22.
According to this report, the average goods and services Consumer Price Index in the 12-month period ending Feb. 19 increased by 41.4% compared with the corresponding period of the year before, marking the fourth consecutive month of decline.
The consumer inflation for the month under review (Jan. 21-Feb. 19) registered an increase of 35.4% compared with the similar month of the previous Iranian year.
The overall CPI (using the Iranian year to March 2017 as the base year) stood at 396.4 for the month ending Feb. 19, indicating a 2.1% rise compared with the month before.
SCI put average inflation for urban and rural areas at 40.8% and 44.2%, respectively.
CPI registered a year-on-year increase of 35.3% for urban areas and 35.8% for rural areas in the month.
The overall CPI reached 384.1 for urban households and 422.7 for rural households, indicating a month-on-month increase of 2% and 2.7%, respectively.
The highest and lowest monthly growth in the index among 12 groups of the basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households in the Iranian month ending Feb. 19 was recorded for “food and beverages” with 3.9% and “communications” with -0.1%.
The highest year-on-year inflation in the month under review was posted for “hotels and restaurants” with 59.7% while the lowest YOY inflation was registered for “communications” with 3.8%.
The highest and lowest annualized inflation rates were registered for “hotels and restaurants” with 61.2% and “communications” with 7.6%.
