Figures in the most recent report by the Iranian regime’s Statistical Center on Inflation in March 2024 show that inflation in the food sector experienced a shock in the first month of the year.
According to an April 25 report by the regime’s Donyay-e-Eghtesad newspaper, “onions, oranges, lemons, bell peppers and pomegranates” with the highest inflation rates in a month “saw more than 10 percent increase in prices,” based on the statistical center’s report.
The newspaper also noted that infant formula and red meat were important commodities that had been hit by “more than 60 percent price growth” in a single year.
According to Iran’s Statistical Center, “in the point to point inflation sector, canned tuna with a price increase of 109 percent became the only commodity that has experienced more than 100 percent price increases over the past year.”
Another notable point in the statistics provided by the Statistical Center on food point to point inflation in March 2024 is that it is the lowest in two years.
However, the state-run Etemad newspaper on April 24, stating that Iran’s annual inflation rate reached 38.8 percent, quoted by Morteza Afghah, economist and professor at Ahvaz Chamran University, wrote: “Although the decline in liquidity has caused a drop in inflation, it has also brought a recession, which has led to the closure of some small and medium-sized factories and enterprises that have suffered due to reduced liquidity.”
Inflation in Iran above 30 percent since 2018, and according to the International Monetary Fund forecast, inflation in Iran will be 37.5 percent this year.
Iran is one of the few countries in the world with hyperinflation over the past few years.
The International Monetary Fund warned in late February that even if Iran was dragged “narrowly” into the Israeli-Hamas war, the country’s economy would not only grow less this year but shrink by 5 percent.
The international body warned that Lebanon would shrink by 20 percent this year if Lebanon was dragged into the war due to attacks by Iran-backed group Hezbollah, and that the Yemeni and Iraqi economies would worsen.
