Iran seeks to achieve single-digit inflation

/By AzerNews/

By Sara Rajabova

The nuclear deal with world powers has created opportunities for Iran to cure its ailing economy.

The Iranian government has been long struggling to revitalize an economy battered by international sanctions and mismanagement.

One of the government’s priority issues is to decrease the inflation that has been high enough increasing up to 40 percent in previous years.

Advisor to President on Economic Affairs Masoud Nili said on November 15 that the government is pursuing policy targeting single-digit inflation, IRNA news agency reported.

He said point-to-point inflation stood at 10.8 percent last month.

Nili added that during the second six months of the current Iranian year, 1394 (began on March 20, 2015), the government required the policy makers, the banks and enterprises to enforce the agenda of economic stability by targeting the single-digit inflation.

He made clear that the government implemented preemptive plans to stem inflation caused by the trouble created by the western sanctions on the financial institutes and the subsequent irregularities for the foreign trade.

Earlier, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani highlighted his government’s achievements in bringing down inflation from those highs.

He asserted that by the end of his administration’s term in office, the inflation rate in the country will be down to a single-digit figure.

Iran's inflation rate decreased from over 35 percent in 2013 to below 15 percent currently. Experts consider that Iran should aim for an annual inflation rate between 2 and 3 percent.

The inflation rate in Iran in 2005 was about 10.4 percent, but in mid-2013, when Rouhani came to power, the inflation rate and point-to-point inflation rate were 37.5 percent and 44 percent, respectively.

Rouhani has promised to decrease the inflation rate to five percent in Iranian fiscal year 1395 (to end on March 20, 2017).