Reuters, Tehran, Oct 9, 2008 (excerpts) – Iran’s annual inflation rate jumped 1.8 percentage points in September to 29.4 percent, Iranian media said on Thursday, highlighting a growing source of discontent ahead of next year’s presidential election.
Rising prices and the economic policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are likely to be major issues in the June 2009 election when Ahmadinejad is expected to run for a new four-year term as leader of the world’s fourth-largest oil producer.
“Inflation on the verge of 30 percent,” business daily Sarmayeh said in a front-page headline.
Consumer prices rose 3.9 percent in the Iranian month that ended on Sept. 21 from the previous month, pushing up the year-on-year rate to 29.4 percent from 27.6 percent, newspapers said, quoting central bank data.
Inflation has been steadily rising from about 11 percent since Ahmadinejad came to power in 2005 on a pledge to share out the Islamic Republic’s oil wealth more fairly.
New Central Bank Governor Mahmoud Bahmani was last week quoted as saying he would inject $15 billion into the banking system to help boost industrial production, a move economists warned could further stoke price rises.
Analysts have said the previous governor, Tahmasb Mazaheri, was replaced in September because he was seeking to tighten credit, while the government