The Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) has reported an annual inflation rate of 40.2% for the calendar year to March 20, a decline of 3.8% against the year to March 2021.

SCI figures published on Tuesday showed that the consumer prices index (CPI) measured on a point-to-point scale had dropped from 49.5% in March last year to 34.7% in the month to late March 2022.

The figures showed that food inflation in Iran soared 12.5% over the past calendar year to reach 51.5%, adding that non-food CPI also increased by 0.6% to 34.6%.

Lowest monthly CPI in Iran were recorded in the month to late May 2021 at 0.7% while Iranian households experienced the largest increases in consumer prices over the month to late September at 3.9%, showed the data.

Average monthly inflation in Iran was 2.5% over the year to March 2022, the SCI said, adding that inflation was on a falling path in the second half of the last calendar year.

The government agency said that households in the southern province of Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad experienced the highest CPI rate in March at 48.2% while lowest inflation rate was recorded in the western province of Hamedan at 36.3%.

The gap between highest and lowest inflation rates recorded in Iran�s 31 provinces reached 11.9%, more than double the figure recorded over the year to March 2021.

Iran has seen high but controlled levels of inflation over the past three years as the country has been grappling with the economic impacts of American sanctions and the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.

A government that took office in August has defended its economic records by pointing to the downward trend in inflation seen over the past six months.

 

 

By PRESS TV�