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Iranwire – The Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) has reported that the annual point-to-point inflation rate in December reached 60 percent, its highest level on record.
According to the data, the figure represents an increase of more than seven percentage points compared to the previous month.
Point-to-point inflation in the “Food and Beverages” category was recorded at 89.9 percent.
Media reports have linked the sharp rise in prices partly to the removal of the “preferential exchange rate.”
This comes despite earlier assurances from officials in Masoud Pezeshkian’s administration that eliminating the subsidized rate for importing basic goods would not result in severe inflation.
For years, the Iranian government allocated a preferential dollar exchange rate, significantly lower than the open market rate, to importers of essential goods such as wheat, medicine, and cooking oil.
Point-to-point inflation measures the change in the price of a basket of goods in a given month compared to the same month in the previous year.
The SCI also reported that the monthly inflation rate stood at 7.9 percent.
Monthly inflation for the “Food, Beverages, and Tobacco” group reached 13.7 percent, while prices in the “Non-Food Goods and Services” group rose by 4.4 percent.
The annual inflation rate was reported at 44.6 percent, up 2.4 percentage points from the previous month.
At the same time, reports from Iran indicate that the Tehran Stock Exchange (TSE) fell sharply on Sunday, January 25.
The main index dropped by 106,000 points, representing a 2.5 percent decline in the total value of listed companies, following a similar fall of 105,000 points the previous day. The index now stands at 4,236,000 points.
In Iran, the stock market is often used by the government as a tool to absorb excess liquidity.
A single-day drop of more than 100,000 points is widely seen as a sign of declining investor confidence, often linked to political uncertainty, the threat of conflict, or internet disruptions that hinder trading and transparency.
