Subsidies to Import Essential Goods Fail to Curb Price Hikes

The rise in the retail prices of goods that used the government’s subsidized foreign currency at a rate of 42,000 rials per US dollar (about three times cheaper than the market rate) was no less than in other consumer goods. 
Last week, Mohammad Baqer Nobakht, the head of Plan and Budget Organization of Iran, announced that the government will continue to allocate subsidized foreign currency to essential goods next year (March 2019-20) to cushion the blow of inflation on Iranian households. 
"As much as $14 billion will be spent on subsidizing the imports of essential goods as per the budget bill of next year," Nobakht said.