The inflation rate in Iran in June was like an earthquake for the Iranian people, with many of them now facing empty fridges. After two decades of wasting the country’s wealth in Hassan Rouhani and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s governments, Ebrahim Raisi’s turn is to put more pressure on the people by increasing the cost of living.
No one in Iran dares to speak about development and progress because these days, around 90 percent of society is struggling to buy staple foods such as bread while obtaining foodstuffs such as fruits, vegetables, and meat has become all but a dream.
A recent report from the regime’s Statistics Center shows that in June of this year, the monthly inflation rate for the poorest decile of the country was more than twice the highest income decile. The reason is apparent: the Iranian regime’s merciless, so-called ‘economic surgery.’
On June 22, the ILNA news agency reported, “According to the Statistics Center, the prices of goods and services of the first decile increased by 19.5 percent from May to June, while the average price increase for the tenth decile (the richest ) is less than 8.4 percent.”
This agency added, “The price of consumer goods and services for the first 10 percent of the country’s low-income group has increased by 64 percent over the past year, and the price growth rate for the highest-income decile has been 49 percent during the same period.”
In other words, the regime has created a class gap that is now impossible to close. The Statistics Center’s report shows that the price of food consumed by the first decile of the poor has increased by an average of 31 percent in June compared to the previous month, while the inflation for food rate for the wealthiest decile in June was less than 22.3 percent.
According to the surveys of the Statistics Center, in November 2019, the monthly inflation rate for the first decile was 8.5 percent. However, by June of this year, it has reached 19.5 percent.
This trend was also repeated for the second to the ninth deciles. The monthly inflation rate for these deciles has been recorded to be 10 to 18 percent. In comparison, the monthly inflation rate in the 10th decile only reached eight percent, having previously reached around 10 percent in October 2020.
By observing the price of food consumed by the middle and lower classes, the question that occupies the mind of any observer is how can people survive with their meager incomes and the increase in the prices of goods? A look at the current food prices shows the catastrophic situation of people’s livelihoods.
On June 22, the state-run website Momtaz News reported, “The price of one kilogram of chicken is 64,000 rials, a 30-piece egg pack is 98,000 rials, and 810 grams of consumer oil is 69,800 rials.” It wrote, “4.5 kilograms of solid oil tin will increase to 400,000 rials, and 16 kilograms of solid oil tin will increase to 1,1 million rials. The same holds true for dairy products. The price of 1.5 percent fat pasteurized milk has increased by 19,000 rials.”
The rapid increase in food prices has annihilated the welfare of millions. The same day, the state-run daily Donya-e Eghtesad wrote, “Research shows that the trend of increasing poverty in the 2000s has gone upwards and encompassing 23 million people in 2020 up from 12.5 million people in 2011. An increase in inflation in these deciles can aggravate this damage.”
The situation has reached such a critical state that some of the regime’s media are reporting about the situation in fear of the Iranian people’s fury, with the hope to escape from the people’s revenge.
