Peyman Falsafi, a member of the Iranian regime’s Majlis (parliament), said the government, instead of increasing the rial value of the electronic subsidy voucher, has expanded the number of eligible products from the original 11 items to dozens of products, to the point that even pizza cheese and, “in some places, bottled water is also offered.”
Falsafi, a member of the Majlis Agriculture Committee, told the state-run ILNA news agency on Saturday, July 25, that rising prices for red meat, chicken, and dairy products have forced some households to remove these goods from their shopping baskets, while non-essential items have taken a larger share of purchases made with the subsidy voucher.
The remarks come as the monthly voucher credit remains at 1 million tomans (10 million rials, approximately $5.20) per person. However, according to calculations based on official prices published by the Statistical Center of Iran, the cost of purchasing the program’s original basket of 11 essential goods had reached about 5.4 million tomans (54 million rials, approximately $28.40) per person in June.
As a result, the voucher’s value of 1 million tomans (10 million rials) now covers less than one-fifth of the cost of the same basket with which the program was originally launched.
Under the revised voucher program, which took effect in January, each person was allocated a monthly credit of 1 million tomans (10 million rials).
The original basket included 11 items, including rice, cooking oil, red meat, chicken, eggs, legumes, milk, yogurt, and cheese. The program’s stated objective was to help households maintain their purchasing power for essential goods.
Falsafi said the law does not specify a fixed number of products but instead emphasizes providing 2,640 calories of nutritional needs. He said the government initially selected 11 essential goods to meet that objective.
According to him, the range of eligible products has now expanded considerably, and by doing so the government has “avoided the real issue.”
He added that under such circumstances, a person who realizes the voucher credit is insufficient to buy meat may choose not to purchase it and instead spend the credit on other goods.
One Million Tomans Versus a Basket Costing at Least Five Million
According to calculations based on data from the Statistical Center of Iran, the cost of purchasing the voucher basket’s 11 main items for each person was about 4.58 million tomans (45.8 million rials) in March 2026. The figure rose to about 5.3 million tomans (53 million rials) in April and May, and to approximately 5.4 million tomans (54 million rials) in June.
This means that between March and June alone, the cost of the basket increased by nearly 18%, while the voucher credit of 1 million tomans (10 million rials) remained unchanged.
For a family of four, the monthly voucher credit amounts to 4 million tomans (40 million rials), while the cost of purchasing the full basket based on June prices exceeded 21 million tomans (210 million rials, approximately $110).
Price increases for some essential items have been significantly higher. According to data from the Statistical Center of Iran, compared with the previous month, prices in January rose by more than 77% for liquid cooking oil, nearly 79% for solid cooking oil, about 49% for eggs, more than 37% for imported rice, and 29% for chicken.
During the same month, cheese prices increased by more than 17%, beef and veal by 16%, lamb by about 15%, and milk by more than 11%.
Food prices continued to rise in subsequent months, and by March 2026 the prices of some items had increased several-fold compared with a year earlier. Annual price increases included about three-and-a-half times for solid cooking oil, more than three times for liquid cooking oil, and more than double for imported rice.
The head of the Majlis Dynamic Agriculture and Nomadic Affairs Caucus also pointed to another problem in implementing the program, saying that some stores have refused to provide goods to voucher holders because the government has not settled payments owed to them.
At the same time as the lawmaker’s remarks, the government announced on Saturday, July 25, 2026, that it currently has no plans to increase the value of the subsidy voucher.
