Baku, Azerbaijan, Dec. 6
By Fatih Karimov - Trend:
Some 12 million Iranians have been identified as living in poverty, Iranian Labor, Cooperatives, and Social Welfare Minister Ali Rabiei said.
Rabiei said poverty is assessed based on the three indices of revenues, appropriate health and education services, Iran's Mehr news agency reported on Dec. 6.
The administration is trying to deal with food poverty in the country, he noted.
Rabiei said on October 28 that within the framework of the subsidy reform plan, seven million people have been identified who suffer from absolute poverty.
Meanwhile, 5-6 million people have been identified that are as wealthy as rich people in the U.S., he added.
The Iranian administration has set the minimum salary for civil servants in the current Iranian calendar year(started on March 21) at 6 million rials (about $240).
Adel Azar, director of the Statistical Center of Iran, has said that living in rural and urban areas in spring cost an average Iranian family $310 and $560, respectively.
USD exchange rate in Iran is currently about 34,000 rials in free market.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani underlined that the administration will pay attention to ensuring food security for the people, saying that food package subsidies will be delivered to people, along with the cash subsidies.