Tehran, Iran, Jan.29
Trend:
The Central Bank of Iran (CBI) has issued a report, saying the policy to allocate official rate foreign currency to import of basic goods has prevented further price increase, and helped to avoid the rise of inflation.
The Central Bank of Iran report indicates the foreign currency allocation to import of basic goods had prevented the high rise of prices for essential items to the extent that it would not have hurt the low income families, Trend reports citing IRNA.
The government of Iran, in the last 10 months, has decided to allocate the USD at the official rate of 42,000 rials/$1? for imports of 25 basic items, including medicine, however the current price hikes of food items (including meat), cast shadow over the effectiveness of this decision.
A report issued by the Parliament Research Center indicates the foreign currency allocation plan did not prevent the rise of prices, specially regarding the basic items, as food prices for example, have increased in the country last month.
Meanwhile, the CBI issued its own report, which said that during the past nine months of the current Iranian year (March 21,2018) the increase of price index of basic goods and medicine has been lower than other imported goods that have not received official foreign currency rate.
The report shows that the commodity price index of imported goods that received official foreign currency rate in November, had led to a 38.3 percent rise in the producer price index, compared to last year (March 21, 2017).
The goods that were not part of foreign currency allocation, increased in price by 61.7 percent.
The goods that received an official foreign currency rate, had a 40.4-percent rise in consumer services, while the other goods witnessed a 73.9-percent rise in price. This has shown that the decision to have official rate of foreign currency for basic goods, curbed the inflation pressure.