According to data released by the Statistical Center of Iran, West Azarbaijan posted the lowest month-on-month inflation of 1.1% last month.
The overall CPI, using the Iranian year to March 2017 as the base year, stood at 204.8 in the same month, indicating a 2.1% rise compared with the previous month.
Hormozgan Province’s goods and services consumer inflation registered a rise of 27.4% during the month ending April 19 compared with the similar month of the year before, the highest among all provinces.
The year-on-year CPI growth was the lowest for Kurdestan Province with 14%, compared with that of other Iranian provinces. The overall goods and services CPI in Iran registered a year-on-year increase of 19.8% in the same month.
The average goods and services CPI in Iran for the 12-month period ending April 19 increased by 32.2% compared with last year’s corresponding period. Ilam saw the highest annual inflation with 39% while Fars posted the lowest of 28.5%.
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 April 19 was recorded for food and beverage with 5.2%, while education group registered no month-on-month change.
With a coefficient of 26.64%, CPI of food and beverage stood at 241.8 in the month ending April 19, indicating a 5.2% increase compared with the month before. The food and beverage index registered a year-on-year increase of 10.7%.
CPI of food and beverage group in the 12-month period ending April 19 increased by 36.8% compared with last year’s corresponding period.
Urban Households
The overall CPI calculated for urban areas stood at 203.4 during the first month of the current Iranian year, indicating a 2% rise compared with the previous month.
The growth in CPI measured for provincial urban households compared with the previous month was the highest (3.7%) for Kohgilouyeh-Boyerahmad Province while West Azarbaijan recorded the lowest monthly inflation growth of 0.1% compared with other provinces.
The index registered an average year-on-year increase of 20.2% for urban areas. Goods and services CPI of Hormozgan’s urban areas registered a year-on-year rise of 26.6% during the month under review, the highest among all provinces.
The CPI increase in urban areas was the lowest for Bushehr with 13.7% YOY.
The average CPI in urban areas for the 12-month period ending April 19 increased by 31.9% compared with last year’s corresponding period. Households living in urban areas of Ilam saw the highest annual inflation (38.4%) while those of Fars witnessed the lowest annual inflation (27.1%) among all Iranian provinces.
Rural Households
The overall CPI calculated for rural areas stood at 212.6 in the month under review, which indicates a 3.1% increase compared with the previous month.
The growth in CPI of rural households compared with the previous month was highest for South Khorasan and Kermanshah with 5%. This is while rural households living in Isfahan saw a 0.8% increase in the prices of goods and services compared with the month before.
The index registered an average year-on-year increase of 18.1% for rural areas in the same month. CPI of Hormozgan’s rural areas registered a YOY increase of 29% during the first month of the Iranian year, the highest among all provinces, whereas the year-on-year CPI increase was the lowest for Kurdestan with 11.5% compared with other provincial rural areas.
The goods and services CPI of rural areas in the 12-month period ending April 19 increased by 33.9% compared with last year’s corresponding period. Ilam registered the highest 12-month inflation in rural areas (41.6%) while West Azarbaijan posted the lowest annual inflation (29%).
Inflation Gap at 3.4%
The average annual inflation gap measured by the Statistical Center of Iran among income deciles stood at 3.4% in the first Iranian month (March 20-April 19), indicating a 0.7 percentage point increase compared with the previous month.
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.
The inflation gap in “food, beverage and tobacco” group among income deciles decreased by 0.7 percentage point and that of “non-food and services” group dropped by 0.6 percentage point month-on-month.
The average goods and services Consumer Price Index in the 12-month period ending April 19 increased 30.8% for the first decile (those with the lowest income) while it grew 34.2% for the 10th decile (those with the highest income).
Average inflation rates grew by 31.5% for the second decile compared with last year’s corresponding period. The annual inflation rate for the third decile increased by 31.6%, for the fourth decile 31.7%, for the fifth and sixth deciles 31.9%, for seventh decile 32.3%, for eighth 32.5% and for the ninth decile 33.1%.
The highest overall CPI (using the Iranian year to March 2017 as the base year) stood at 213.4 for the 10th decile and the lowest calculated was 201.8 for the first decile.
The year-on-year inflation rates increased by 16.3% for the first decile during the month under review, 17% for second, 17.5% for third, 17.9% for fourth, 18.2% for fifth, 18.7% for sixth, 19.5% for seventh, 20.1% for eighth, 21.4% for ninth and 23.5% for the 10th decile.