Azerbaijan, Baku, June 11 /Trend S.Isayev
There are three ways that the government of Iran can use to try to stop the rise of inflation in the country, U.S. Northeastern University Professor Kamran Dadkhah told Trend.
"In order to stop the inflation, the government has to stop printing money, reign in its expenditures, and allow the interest rate to increase," he said.
Iran's inflation rate increased by 1.2 percent in the second Iranian calendar month of Ordibehesht (April21-May 21) to reach 31 percent, ISNA reported on June 5.
Inflation in Iran amounted to 25.4 percent on the average during the past Iranian calendar year.
Previously, the governor of the Central Bank of Iran Mahmoud Bahmani said nothing more can be done to curb inflation.
The International Monetary Fund said on April 16 that Iran's economy contracted by 1.9 percent in 2012 and is expected to shrink by 1.3 percent this year as it reels from the impact of Western sanctions.
"The cause of inflation is monetary expansion. During Mr. Ahmadinejad's presidency Iran's liquidity (currency in circulation plus checking and saving bank deposits) increased from 70 trillion tumans ($57 billion based on official dollar rate and 28 billion based on dollar rate in Forex Center) to 458 trillion tumans ($373.5 billion based on official dollar rate and 183.2 billion based on dollar rate in Forex Center), that is, by more than 550 percent," Dadkhah explained.
He went on to note that if the government stops printing money, reign in its expenditures, and allow the interest rate to increase, these actions will cause hardship for the population and increase unemployment in the short run.
"But this is the price to be paid in order to control the inflation and stabilize the economy," he noted. "They are needed to pave the way for increased investment, the expansion of the economy, and creating employment."
Speaking of the presidential candidates, Dadkhah noted that he doesn't think any of the candidates has the ability to convince ordinary people that such measures are necessary.
"People have to be convinced of it necessity to support it and indeed to form apolitical will to carry out the policy."
"Furthermore, I do not think any of the candidates has the courage to carry out the policy to its conclusion," Dadkhah underscored.
On June 14, Iranians will go to over 66,000 polling stations across the country to cast their votes for the 7 active presidential candidates.
Over 420 journalists from 39 countries will be covering the presidential elections in the Islamic Republic of Iran, according to country's Public Relations and Information Center of Ministry of Culture.
Such countries as Azerbaijan, Germany, Australia, Russia, Japan, UK, UAE, France, Turkey, Iraq, Ukraine, USA, Syria, China will be covering the elections in Iran.
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