About seventeen million Iranians will receive staple food coupons, as the administration of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the parliament have agreed to adopt policies to assist low-income families, MNA reported.
Rice, sugar, and edible oil will be distributed among the two poorest 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 poor families.
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 percent.
On October 22, 2012, Iranian First Vice-President Mohammad-Reza Rahimi rejected the idea of reinventing the once implemented 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, MP Arslanan Fathipour has said that given today's economic situation in the country, and the imposed international sanctions, the coupon-based system must be reinvented.