Inflation rate reduced by more than 19.2 percent compared with last year’s 35 percent and reached 15.8 percent by the end of the month ending January 20th, announced the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) in its latest report.
President Hassan Rouhani has on several occasions said the government’s top priority is to reduce the inflation rate, which reached as high as 40.4 percent in October 2014. The government plans to lower the rate through a long-term plan.
The inflation started to increase in year 2010 due to the former administration’s so-called ‘subsidy reform plan’, which was part of a broader economic reform plan conceived by former president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, though basically the subsidy system originated from the Iraq-Iran War era, which was never abolished.
According to official estimates, approximately $30 billion is spent every year on subsidizing energy prices and many consumable goods including bread, sugar, rice, cooking oil and medicine.
Statistics show that the Rouhani administration, by following the policy of creating ‘financial discipline’, is achieving its primary goal of lowering the inflation rate.
