Center: Inflation Rate Falls to 14.5%

TEHRAN (Press TV) -- Iran’s inflation rate averaged 14.5% in the 12 months to March 21, the Statistical Center of Iran said.

Date: 25 April 2015 - 21:31

News ID: ۱۳۱۸۳

Inflation was 30.2% in March last year, according to the center. The month of March marks the end of the Iranian calendar year.
Iran has seen its inflation rate decline from its peak of 40% under former President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad two years ago.
The rate has steadily declined courtesy of President Hassan Rouhani’s tight monetary policies and fiscal discipline.
Governor of the Central Bank of Iran says the administration is now working to bring the inflation further down to single digits.
"This may not be achieved next year but we are pretty confident that we will be able to bring it down to single digits in two years,” Valiollah Seif told China Central Television (CCTV) America in Washington.
Last week, Iranian banks started to cut their borrowing and lending rates to 20% from 22% after weeks of pressures.
Supporters of lower rates are disappointed with recent losses on the stock market after years of record highs.
They hope a cut in rates will prompt Iranians to direct their assets into the stock market but some economists warn they might be diverted instead to credit institutions often functioning outside the Central Bank’s regulations.
For several years, many Iranians invested in the real estate market which experienced a 600% rise in housing prices during Ahmadinejad’s tenure. The sector currently seems to have run out of steam and is languishing in a deep recession.
Many Iranians hold a large amount of stranded hard currency assets cached during years of intensified sanctions which could affect the market if they are released.
The government has to walk a tightrope in its fiscal policies to keep any volatility from possible influx of those stranded assets in check.