Iran's inflation rate reaches 26.1%

The inflation rate in Iran for the 12-month period that ended on November 22nd hit 26.1%, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced on Wednesday, the Mehr News Agency reported.

Experts believe that in recent months, the real rate of inflation in Iran has been over 50%.

"Figures obtained on the ground show that the inflation rate is over 50% and ?some unofficial sources even claim that it was 196%," The ILNA reported, quoting Iranian university lecturer and economist, Mehdi Taghavi, as saying in October.

Taghavi believes that Iran's currency (the Rial) has lost over 80% of its value during the past few months.

"While the average economic growth in the Middle-East and North Africa region is 5%, Iran's economy is shrinking ," he said.

Taghavi added that the country's inflation is the highest in MENA region.

In its semi-annual World Economic Outlook, the IMF's forecast of Iran's gross domestic product would shrink 0.9% this year after 2% growth in 2011.

Its prediction for this year was a downgrade from a forecast of 0.4% growth in its last report in April. The IMF projected GDP would expand next year by 0.8%.

The IMF expects inflation to shift to 21.8% in 2013 from 25.2 percent in 2012; many private economists, however, think inflation is well over 30%.


/Trend/