Iran sees inflation at 21.6% by March 2012

TEHRAN,Dec.21(MNA)--Iran’s inflation rate for the eighth calendar month of Aban (ended on November 21) stood at 19.8 percent and if the economy does not suffer any external shock, the rate would hit 21.6 percent by the end of the year (March 2012), Iran`s deputy economy minister, Mohammadreza Farzin, said. He added that despite some speculations on a surge in Iran’s inflation rate by 50-500 percent after implementing the Subsidy Reform Plan, the inflation rate has remained below 25 percent. Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Iran governor Mahmoud Bahmani announced on December 11 that the country's inflation growth rate will decline in the coming months. Bahmani had previously said that the country's inflation rate increased by 0.8 percent to stand at 19.1 percent in the end of the seventh Iranian month of Mehr. He put last year's inflation rate at 12.4 percent. The subsidy reform plan, launched in December 2010, allows the Iranian government to gradually slash subsidies on fuel, electricity, and certain goods over the course of five years, with low-income families being compensated with direct cash handouts.