Fatemeh Mohajerani, the spokesperson for the government of the Iranian regime, announced that prices of essential goods will increase by between 20% and 30% in the coming weeks.
In a televised interview on Monday, January 5, she said that price increases for some goods such as cooking oil, chicken, and eggs will be “significant.”
Despite the regime’s Majlis (parliament) announcing the approval of the general framework of the 2026 budget with a preferential exchange rate of 285,000 rials, Mohajerani reported the government’s decision to unify exchange rates.
She added: “So that the unification of the exchange rate does not put pressure on the people, each Iranian household will receive, per person, 10 million rials per month, which will be deposited as credit into the household head’s account from January to March, and households will be able to begin their purchases in the next one or two days.”
According to Mohajerani, this credit can only be used to purchase 11 items, including milk, cheese, yogurt, meat, eggs, liquid cooking oil, pasta, sugar cubes, sugar, and legumes, at more than 268,000 stores nationwide.
Mohajerani’s remarks about rising prices of essential goods come as a wave of price hikes for these items began weeks ago and has intensified in recent days.
Didban Iran, a domestic news outlet, reported on January 1 that domestically produced cooking oil has been scarce for weeks, and some chain stores offer limited quantities every two days, which usually sell out before noon.
According to the report, citizens who visit stores in the afternoon can only purchase corn oil, which is also available in limited quantities and at very high prices.
The government’s solution to confront these price hikes is the distribution of food vouchers and a subsidy of 10 million rials, which according to Mohajerani will be valid for one or two months. At present, the price of the U.S. dollar in Iran’s market is around 1,450,000 rials, making 10 million rials equivalent to about 7 dollars.
The government spokesperson acknowledged that removing the preferential exchange rate will increase inflation in the short term, but said, “Predictions indicate that over a period of several months, inflation will be controlled in a fundamental manner.”
Massoud Pezeshkian, the president of the Iranian regime, announced on January 1 the official removal of the 285,000-rial preferential exchange rate and said that anyone who received this currency for importing essential goods would “consume it for themselves.”
However, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the regime’s Majlis, announced on January 5 that the preferential exchange rate will not be removed from next year’s budget.
According to the approved budget framework, 8.8 billion dollars in preferential currency has been allocated to prevent increases in the prices of essential goods.
Experts, citing point-to-point inflation of 52% in November and forecasts that the free-market dollar rate could rise to 1,600,000 rials by the end of the year (March 22, 2026), have warned that Iran will face even higher inflation.
