Rich-Poor Inflation Gap at 5.4%

EghtesadOnline: The average annual inflation gap measured by the Statistical Center of Iran among income deciles stood at 5.4% in the fifth Iranian month (July 22-Aug. 21), indicating a 0.7 percentage point increase compared with the previous month.

News ID: ۷۵۰۸۴۱

31 August 2020

The inflation gap in “food, beverages and tobacco” group among income deciles decreased by 0.9 percentage points, while that of “non-food and services” group increased by 0.8 percentage point compared with the month before.

The average goods and services Consumer Price Index in the 12-month period ending Aug. 21 increased by 23.4% for the first decile (those with the lowest income) while it grew 28.8% for the 10th decile (those with the highest income).

“Food, beverages and tobacco” group inflation increased by 21.6% for the first decile and by 21.9% for the 10th group. “Non-food and services” group inflation grew by 25.2% for the first decile and by 30.6% for the 10th group.

Average inflation rates grew by 24.1% for the second decile compared with last year’s corresponding period; 24.4% for the third decile; 24.6% for the fourth decile; 24.9% for the fifth decile; 25.1% for the sixth decile; 25.7% for the seventh decile; 26.1% for eighth decile and 27% for the ninth decile.

The highest overall CPI (using the Iranian year to March 2017 as the base year) stood at 253.9 for the 10th decile and the lowest calculated was 229.2 for the first decile. The first, second, fourth and fifth deciles registered a 3.4% month-on-month inflation growth. Monthly inflation growth was 3.5% for third and sixth deciles, 3.6% for seventh decile, 3.7% for eighth decile, 3.9% for ninth decile and 4.5% for the tenth deciles.

The year-on-year inflation rates increased by 27.7% for the first decile during the month under review, 28.4% for second, 28.7% for third, 28.8% for fourth, 29% for fifth, 29.6% for sixth, 30.6% for seventh, 31.5% for eighth, 33.6% for ninth and 37.8% 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.

According to SCI's latest report, the general average goods and services Consumer Price Index in the 12-month period ending Aug. 21, which marks the end of the fifth Iranian month, increased by 25.8% compared with the corresponding period of last year.

The center had put the average annual inflation rate for the preceding Iranian month, which ended on July 21, at 26.4%.

The consumer inflation for the month under review (July 22-Aug. 21) registered a year-on-year increase of 30.4% compared with the similar month of previous Iranian year. The year-on-year inflation of the month ending July 21 has been put at 26.9%.

The overall CPI (using the Iranian year to March 2017 as the base year) stood at 235.9 in the month under review, indicating a 3.5% rise compared with the month before.

SCI put average annual inflation for urban and rural during the month under review at 25.9% and 25.4%, respectively.

CPI registered a year-on-year increase of 30.6% for urban areas and 29.6% for rural areas in the month ending August 21.

The overall CPI reached 234.7 for urban households and 242.5 for rural households, indicating a month-on-month increase of 3.5% and 3.2% for urban and rural areas, respectively.

The highest monthly growth in the index among 12 groups of the basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households in the Iranian month ending Aug. 21 was recorded for “furniture, home appliances and their maintenance” with 5.9% and the lowest monthly growth for “health and treatment” and “communications” groups with 1.7%.

The highest and lowest year-on-year inflation in the month under review was posted for transportation (65.1%) and communications (12.5%) and the highest and lowest annual inflation was registered for transportation (47.2%) and communications (6.4%).