Iranian presidential hopeful Mir-Hossein Mousavi says Central Bank figures show that criticisms of Ahmadinejad's economic policies are not lies, Press TV reported.
"While we had the highest oil revenue during the past few years, we had one of the worst national inflation rates. Those who say inflation is a lie must take a look at figures released by the Central Bank," Mousavi told university students in the northwestern city of Ardabil.
"Those who say unemployment is not a problem must visit this very city, Ardabil, carpet workshops, and factories. We cannot find a solution by erasing the problem," he added.
The former prime minister's comments followed a recent speech by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that focused on how his administration was 'the target of an unprecedented propaganda war' ahead of the June 12 elections.
"A psy-war that includes a great deal of lies and slanders is under way ... this number of lies have never been told in our country before," the president said in a Sunday meeting with a group of clerics in Tehran.
Ahmadinejad's economic policy is one of the areas where he has come under heavy criticism by the three rival candidates, who other than Mousavi, include former parliament speaker Mehdi Karroubi and Expediency Council member Mohsen Rezaei.
During his speech at the University of Mohaghegh Ardabili, Mousavi launched a new assault on what he called Ahmadinejad's "charity-based economic policy" and said the government must seek long-term development plans.
In another Monday speech in Ardabil, Mousavi also accused the incumbent administration of bankrupting Iranian farmers with unnecessary imports of foreign produce.
Backed by the country's leading Reformist figure, former president Mohammad Khatami, Mousavi is expected to be the Principlist president's main rival in the upcoming vote.