Rising Prices of Food and Non-Food Items in Iran Coincide with Worker Protests
As protests by various professions continue, the coronavirus crisis persists, and widespread power outages occur across Iran, reports indicate that price increases for various food and non-food items in Iranian cities continue unabated, adding to the current problems facing citizens.
Iran’s Labor News Agency, ILNA, reported on Monday, Tir 14, on the registration process for purchasing state-subsidized chicken in Isfahan, noting that due to the 6,000-toman price difference between state-subsidized and free-market chicken, buyers, who are mostly elderly, must register to purchase state-subsidized poultry and wait for hours in queues to obtain the needed goods.
ILNA quoted a state-subsidized chicken buyer as saying: “Six kilos of chicken here costs 26,000 tomans per kilo, which totals around 150,000 tomans, while non-subsidized chicken costs 32,000 tomans per kilo. A 40,000-toman price difference is not insignificant for me and my family in these difficult economic conditions. Everyone else here certainly has similar economic circumstances to mine.”
In another report, the ISNA news agency, noting a 28.5 percent increase in medical tariffs, reported that even those with insurance “pay approximately 60,000 tomans out of pocket from an 80,000-toman consultation.”
This agency also quoted a patient as saying: “Last year a specialist doctor’s consultation was 80,000 tomans, which is now 101,400 tomans this year. Now it’s unclear what this difference is for!?”
Tasnim News Agency also reported on “price increases for various goods including detergents, sugar, and…” and wrote: “The price of pasta has officially increased by up to 70 percent.”
Iran’s Statistical Center recently announced an annual inflation rate of 43 percent, with inflation rates in 15 of Iran’s 31 provinces reported to be above 50 percent.
With continued price increases and income levels disproportionate to inflation, employees and workers in various sectors have resorted to protests and strikes. In recent weeks, most strikers in Iran’s oil and gas industry have stopped work in protest of poor working conditions, low wages, and inequality in wage payments and equal welfare facilities.
