The Iranian government’s statistics agency has reported a slight increase in the country's inflation rate in the calendar month to September 22.
The Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) said on Sunday that consumer prices index (CPI) had risen by 0.8% to 42.9% in September.
The SCI said the rise in inflation had been felt more by rural households than those living in urban regions of Iran in September as its figures pointed to a CPI increase of 46.2% for those families over that sixth month of the calendar year.
Iran’s month on month inflation rate also surged by 0.8% to 3% in September, said the SCI, adding that food, beverages and smoking products prices had increased by 2.2% and non-food prices by 3.5% against August.
The CPI calculated on a point-to-point basis, a method normally used by the SCI in its monthly inflation reports, was reported at 48.6%, meaning that Iranian households had spent nearly 50% more on goods and services in the month to late September when compared with the same month last year.
Iran’s inflation rate has risen by around one percentage point per month since July this year.
That comes as an administrative government that came to office in the country in August last year had boasted of its ability to contain high inflation rates by bringing the CPI down to below 40% for a first time in a year in April.
Experts say high but controlled levels of inflation in Iran are mainly a result of American sanctions targeting the country’s crude oil revenues in recent years as well as the economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.