Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan. 23 / Trend F.Mehdi/
Seventeen million Iranian will receive staple food rationing cards as the administration and parliament agreed to adopt policies to assist low-income families, the Mehr News Agency reported.
Rice, sugar, and edible oil will be distributed amongst the low-income strata of society.
Earlier, the Majlis and the administration agreed to allocate $2 billion from the National Development Fund to support low-income families. The money will be used to provide staple foods to this group.
The Central Bank of Iran has announced that the inflation rate in the 12-month period ending with the completion of the ninth Iranian calendar month of Azar (December 20, 2012) hit 27.4 per cent.
On October 22, 2012, Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi rejected the idea of reinventing the coupon-based supply of staple foods.
The Donya-ye Eqtesad daily quoted Rahimi as saying that reserves of staple foods such as rice, meat, milk and edible oil are sufficient and there is no need to re-launch the coupon-base system.
Meanwhile, member of the Iranian parliament's economic committee Arslanan Fathipour has said Iran might be implementing the electronic discount cards for strategic products.
Fathipour said that given today's economic situation in the country and imposed international sanctions, the coupons must be brought back in the shape of electronic coupons.
This would be the second time Iran has used such strategy to support its economy. After the Islamic Revolution in 1981 the country experienced a great deficit of some foods and services.
At that time it was ordered to implement the special discount coupons for 10 emergency first products and services, to reduce the overall prices. After the economy stabilized, Iran canceled the discount coupons.