‘Health & Treatment’ Inflation at 25%

EghtesadOnline: The average goods and services Consumer Price Index of “health and treatment” in the 12-month period ending Nov. 20, which marks the end of the eighth Iranian month, increased by 25% compared with last year’s corresponding period.

News ID: ۷۵۱۶۳۷

05 December 2020

According to the Statistical Center of Iran, the CPI of “health and treatment” among 12 groups of the basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households stood at 218.7 during the period, indicating a 3.2% increase compared with the month before.

The index, with a coefficient of 7.14%, registered an increase of 33.9% compared with the similar month of last year.

The average goods and services Consumer Price Index in the 12-month period ending Nov. 20, which marks the end of the eighth Iranian month, increased by 29% compared with the corresponding period of last year, latest data released by the Statistical Center of Iran show.

SCI had put the average annual inflation rate for the preceding Iranian month, which ended on Oct. 21, at 27.2%.

The consumer inflation for the month under review (Oct. 22-Nov. 20) registered an increase of 46.4% compared with the similar month of the previous Iranian year. The year-on-year inflation of the month ending Oct. 21 was 41.4%.

The overall CPI (using the Iranian year to March 2017 as the base year) stood at 275 last month, indicating a 5.2% rise compared with the month before. Month-on-month consumer inflation was 7% for the preceding month (Sept. 22-Oct. 21.)

SCI put the average annual inflation for urban and rural areas at 29% and 28.8%, respectively.

CPI registered a year-on-year increase of 45.7% for urban areas and 50.3% for rural areas in the month ending Nov. 20.

The overall CPI reached 272.6 for urban households and 288.6 for rural households, indicating a month-on-month increase of 4.7% and 7.6% for urban and rural areas, respectively.

The 12 groups of the basket of consumer goods and services purchased by households surveyed by the SCI include "food and beverages" with a coefficient of 26.64%, "housing, water, electricity, natural gas and other fuels" with a coefficient of 35.5% (highest), "transportation" with a coefficient of 9.41%, "health and treatment" with a coefficient of 7.14%, "clothing and shoes" with a coefficient of 4.78%, "furniture, home appliances and their maintenance" with a coefficient of 3.93%, "communications" with a coefficient of 2.87%, "leisure and culture" with a coefficient of 1.65%, "education" with a coefficient of 1.86%, "hotels and restaurants" with a coefficient of 1.44%, "tobacco" with a coefficient of 0.59% and "miscellaneous items and services" with a coefficient of 4.18%.

The average Iranian household living in urban areas spent 49.64 million rials ($198) on health in the last fiscal year (March 2019-20). That’s a 16.1% increase from 42.75 million rials ($171) they spent in the fiscal 2018-19, according to a report by the Ministry of Cooperatives, Labor and Social Welfare’s Statistics and Strategic Data Center.

The center divides health expenses into two groups of “hygiene and treatment” and “social and medical insurances” costs.

The “hygiene and treatment” costs accounted for 33.34 million rials ($133)—up 12.1% year-on-year—and those of “social and medical insurances” constituted 16.3 million rials ($65)—up 25.5% YOY—of total expenditure of urban families in fiscal 2019-20.

Findings also show that health expenses accounted for 10.2% of urban households overall expenditure and 13.5% of their non-food expenses.

Health spending has been the fourth largest contributor to the overall spending of urban household with 10.2% after “housing and fuels” with 35.5%, “food and tobacco” with 24.2% and “transportation and communications” with 11.5%.