Central Bank Governor Mahmud Bahmani announced the rate of 16.3 percent over the last 12 months.
He pointedly did not announce the rate compared to the same month in the previous year, the other way of calculating inflation. That rate is believed to be much higher.
The Central Bank has not published its monthly inflation report since Farvardin, the month covering March and April. That report of several pages in length gives considerable detail about the inflation calculations.
The Central Bank is not expected to publish any more monthly reports. A few months ago, it was announced that the Statistical Organization of Iran would take over the job of measuring the inflation rate. It has published nothing at all.
A Central Bank official has announced the basic inflation rate as the average over the previous 12 months in each of the last three months.
The last time the rate calculated as compared to the same month in the previous year was produced, it showed an inflation rate of 19.7 percent. It is believed to be well above 20 percent by now.
The latest tabulation of inflation rates published by the CIA shows only four out of 223 economies with an inflation rate higher than what Bahmani acknowledged for Iran. They are Eritrea at 20.0 percent, Argentina at 22.0 percent, Congo at 26.2 percent and Venezuela at 29,8 percent.
