This time it’s the growth in gross domestic product (GDP), always a politically sensitive figure.
The Statistics Center of Iran, the official agency empowered several months ago to generate all state statistics, has reported that the GDP last year (that is, in the Persian year 1390 ending March 20, 2011) grew at the reasonably impressive rate of:
6.5%
But earlier, Economy Minister Shamseddin Hossaini said the growth rate that year was:
5.8%
And before the Central Bank was told to cease producing statistics, it said the growth rate that year had been:
3.5%
The World Bank, meanwhile, has estimated Iran’s GDP growth in 2010—nine months of which overlaps with the Persian year of 1390—at:
1.0%
So, pick a number. Any number.