SCI’s Provincial Survey on Latest Consumer Inflation in Iran

EghtesadOnline: The growth in overall Consumer Price Index was the highest (6.3%) for West Azarbaijan Province during the ninth month of the current Iranian year (Nov. 22-Dec. 21) compared with the previous month, according to data released by the Statistical Center of Iran.

News ID: ۷۴۹۳۰۴

28 December 2019

Kurdestan Province posted the lowest month-on-month inflation of 1.2% last month.

The overall CPI calculated for the country (using the Iranian year to March 2017 as the base year) stood at 193.8 in the same month, indicating a 3.2% rise compared with the previous month.

Ilam Province’s goods and services consumer inflation registered a rise of 33.9% during the month ending Dec. 21 compared with the similar month of last year, the highest among all provinces. The year-on-year CPI increase was the lowest for Kurdestan with 23.1% compared with that of other Iranian provinces, Financial Tribune reported.

The overall goods and services CPI in Iran registered a year-on-year increase of 27.8% in the same month.

The average goods and services CPI in Iran for the 12-month period ending Dec. 21 increased by 40% compared with last year’s corresponding period.

Ilam registered the highest annual inflation with 48.6% while Qom posted the lowest at 35.2%.

Urban Households

The overall CPI calculated for urban areas stood at 192.6 during the ninth Iranian month, indicating a 3% rise compared with the previous month.

The growth in CPI measured for provincial urban households compared with the previous month was the highest (6.2%) in West Azarbaijan province while Kurdestan recorded the lowest inflation of 1.3%.

The index registered an average year-on-year increase of 27.6% for urban areas. Goods and services CPI of Ilam’s urban areas registered a year-on-year rise of 33% during the month under review, the highest among all provinces.

The CPI increase of urban areas was the lowest for Kurdestan with 23% YOY.

The average CPI in urban areas for the 12-month period ending Dec. 21 increased by 39.3% compared with last year’s corresponding period. Households living in Ilam’s urban area saw the highest annual inflation (47.6%) while those of Fars witnessed the lowest (33.5%) among all Iranian provinces.

Rural Households

The overall CPI calculated for rural areas stood at 200.1 in the month under review, which indicates a 4.2% increase compared with the previous month.

The growth in rural CPI compared with the previous month was highest for Sistan-Baluchestan with 8%.  This is while rural households in Kurdestan saw the slightest increase of 0.9% in the prices of goods and services compared with the month before.

The index registered an average YOY increase of 28.9% for rural areas in the same month. CPI of Ilam’s rural areas registered a YOY increase of 38% during the ninth month of the Iranian year, the highest among all provinces, whereas the CPI increase was the lowest for Kurdestan with 23.6% YOY compared with other provincial rural areas.

The goods and services CPI of rural areas in the 12-month period leading to Dec. 21 increased by 43.8% compared with last year’s corresponding period. Ilam registered the highest 12-month inflation of rural areas (52.9%) while Qom posted the lowest annual inflation (39.1%).

Rich-Poor Inflation Gap at 2%

SCI has also released another report on inflation rates felt by different income decile.

The average annual inflation gap, according to this report, among income deciles stood at 2% in the ninth Iranian month (Nov. 22-Dec. 21), indicating no change compared with the previous month.

The inflation gap of “food, beverages and tobacco” group among income deciles declined by 0.6 percentage point and that of “non-food and services” reduced by 0.7 percentage point month-on-month.

The average goods and services Consumer Price Index in the 12-month period ending Dec. 21 increased by 39.6% for the first decile (those with the lowest income) while it grew by 41.6% for the 10th decile (those with the highest income).

Average inflation rates grew by 40.5% for the second, third, seventh and eighth deciles compared with last year’s corresponding period. The annual inflation rate for the fourth and fifth deciles increased by 40.4% in the same month, the sixth decile 40.1% and the ninth decile 40.8%.

The highest overall CPI (using the Iranian year to March 2017 as the base year) stood at 197.5 for the 10th decile and the lowest calculated was 193.2 for the first decile.

The year-on-year inflation rates increased by 26.9% for the first decile during the month under review, 27.2% for second, 27.3% for third, 27.5% for fourth, 27.6% for fifth and sixth, 27.8% for seventh, 27.9% for eighth, 28.3% for ninth and 29.1% for the 10th decile.

Income deciles are groupings that result from ranking either all households or all persons in the population in the ascending order according to income, and then dividing the population into 10 groups, each comprising approximately 10% of the estimated population.