A report by the Iranian authorities reveals that in January food prices rose by 60 percent • Due to the collapse of the currency, trade in the country is low • Local trader: "We have no money for drugs"
Meat, rationing, butchers in Iran // Photo: AP
While senior members of the regime in Iran are celebrating the swearing-in of the Biden administration, the situation of the local economy continues to be difficult.
The Iranian news agency Tassanim reported this morning that food prices in the Islamic Republic have risen by 60 percent over the past month.
According to a report by the Iranian Government Center for Statistics, the devaluation of the currency has recently led to a four percent rise in commodity prices, with food products rising dramatically, apparently due to the winter season and the need to import food products from other countries.
Despite the fact that many food products in Iran are under rationing and supervision, the rise in prices may result in a shortage of many food products, including beef, chicken and fresh vegetables.
It is important to note that the official data provided by the government in Tehran often do not well represent the situation in the markets, and in many cases the picture is much more serious.
The Associated Press reported today that many Iranian goods are entering markets in Iraq, especially in Kurdish autonomy in the north of the country, because many Iranian traders are craving foreign currency after the value of the Iranian real crashed.
Traders are paid for the goods in dollars, which in turn motivate the black market within Iran itself.
Ramayar Previs, an Iranian trader, explained to the news agency why he came to sell Iranian products in the city of Dohaq in Iraq.
"There is a huge economic pressure on the people of Iran. The cost of living is so great that we are not able to buy anything, we are not even able to pay for drugs," the trader says.
Iran's deteriorating economic situation is facing Iran's regime leaders, who are demanding the removal of the Trump regime's sanctions on their economy as a first step in negotiations to return to a nuclear deal with the Biden administration.
Meanwhile, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani is choosing to present Iran as the winner of the US election.
"Those who wanted to break the backs and spirits of the Iranian people went into defeat and humiliation," the president said.
Yesterday, the Iranian president sought to make it clear that the ball is in Biden's hands when it comes to negotiating the nuclear deal and reiterated his country's demand to remove the sanctions as a precondition for opening negotiations.
