November 19, 2021
Inflation dropped substantially last month, falling below 40 percent for the first time in 13 months. (But before that, inflation only remained under 40 percent for 13 months.) According to the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI), inflation compared to the same month last year came to 39.2 percent as of the end of the Persian month of Mehr on October 22, a remarkable decline of 4.5 percentage points. Mehr was the second full month of the new administration of President Raisi, so the substantial drop was a fillip for its economic management. Iran also measures inflation as an average of the preceding 12 months. By that measure, inflation fell modestly by 0.4 percentage points to 45.4 percent. But the first measure is the more important because it tends to point the direction in which inflation is going. Of the 12 components used in the inflation measure, the food and beverage component saw the greatest rise—61.3 percent over 12 months.