“Hotels and Restaurants”, one of the 12 groups of goods and services surveyed by the Statistical Center of Iran for calculating inflation, registered an annualized inflation of 69.8% in the sixth month of the current Iranian year (Aug. 23-Sept. 22).
The group’s month-on-month and year-on-year inflation rates were reported at 4.9% and 84.4%% respectively.
All the above-mentioned increase in CPI were the highest among the 12 groups under review.
The consumer goods and services surveyed by SCI include "food and beverages" with a coefficient of 26.64%, "tobacco" with 0.59%, "clothing and shoes" with 4.78%, "housing, water, electricity, natural gas and other fuels" with 35.5% (highest), "furniture, home appliances and their maintenance" with 3.93%, "health and treatment" with 7.14%, "transportation" with 9.41%, "communications" with 2.87%, "leisure and culture" with 1.65%, "education" with 1.86%, "hotels and restaurants" with 1.44% and "miscellaneous items and services" with 4.18%.
The general annualized inflation in the month ending Sept. 22 was reported to be 42.1% by the Statistical Center of Iran.
The general goods and services Consumer Price Index (using the Iranian year to March 2017 as the base year) stood at 525.4 in the month under review, indicating a month-on-month rise of 2.2% and a year-on-year rise of 49.7%.
CPI hit 515.7 for urban households and 579.8 for rural households, each indicating a month-on-month increase of 2.2%.
SCI put the annualized inflation for urban and rural areas at 41.5% and 45.3%, respectively.
The year-on-year inflation stood at 48.4% for urban areas and 56.3% for rural areas in the month.
The rise in prices of goods and services accelerated at an unprecedented pace after the government decided to overhaul the import subsidy system.
The government move saw the abolition of the controversial practice of allocating cheap dollars at the rate of 42,000 rials per dollar, locally known as the Preferential Foreign Currency, to import essential goods, including corn, soymeal, unprocessed oil, oilseeds and barley, in addition to wheat, flour and medicine.
The market value of the dollar is currently above 300,000 rials.
“Until now, we have been paying to producers [read importers] but now the subsidies go to consumers. In fact, the Preferential Foreign Currency has not been ceased, rather the allocation method has changed,” President Ebrahim Raisi said in a televised speech on the eve of the introduction of the move in May.
In his speech, Raisi emphasized that the removal of cheap dollar allocation will not lead to a price rise in wheat, flour and medicine. However, the move has led to a dramatic rise in the prices of essential goods. In fact, the prices of all commodities and services have also risen suddenly in a ripple effect.
Also known as necessity or basic goods, essential goods are products consumers will buy, regardless of changes in income levels.
