Azerbaijan, Baku, May.6/ Trend F.Karimov/
Food inflation has increased by 60 percent in Iran, the Persian language daily Qanoon reported.
The Statistics Center of Iran has changed the base year for calculating the inflation rate from the calendar year 1383 (March 2004-March 2005) to the year 1390 (March 2011-March 2012), aiming to announced a lower inflation rate, according to the report.
Iran's inflation rate reached 38.7 percent in the first month of the current Iranian calendar year (March 21-April 20), the Mehr News agency reported, citing the Statistics Center of Iran.
Inflation in Iran amounted to 25.4 percent on the average during the past Iranian calendar year.
The inflation rate increased from 21.8 percent in the first calendar month of Farvardin (begins on March 21 and ends on April 20) to 31.5 percent in the final month of Esfand (begins in February and ends in March), according to the report.
In December 2012, IRNA quoted Finance and Economic Affairs Minister Shamseddin Hosseini as saying that the Iranian administration has special plans to curb a probable surge in inflation during the final months of the current Iranian calendar year, ending on March 20, 2013.
Since recent rises in prices of goods are in close relation with rises in foreign currency prices, so we should rein in foreign currency shocks, he added.
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 economy of the Islamic republic is, however, forecast to grow next year by 1.1 percent, the IMF said in its annual World Economic Outlook.
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