Supreme Center of Islamic Labor Councils of Iran: The household livelihood basket rate is 11,479,000 Tomans

Calculations by the Wage Committee of the Supreme Center of Islamic Labor Councils of Iran show that the cost of living of working families in the country has increased again.

According to the Iranian Labor News Agency, ILNA, on Thursday, November 4, the calculation, carried out by Faramarz Tofighi, head of the Wage Committee of the Supreme Center of Islamic Labor Councils of the country, indicates that "the household subsistence basket rate in October reached 11,479,000 tomans."

According to the report, "the wage coverage percentage reached 35.36 percent in October," meaning "the minimum wage covers less than 40 percent of the cost of the livelihood basket and is sufficient for 10.6 days of the month."

Based on these calculations, the minimum wage and pension in Iran are only "sufficient to cover the food costs of an average household of 3.3 people," provided that they eat only "one hot meal" a day and spend the other two meals "simply" with cold food.

Faramarz Tofighi has considered the government bill to eliminate the 4,200-toman currency to result in "huge profits" several times over for "private interests" and asked: "Does the working class community have the resilience to another shock therapy?"

ILNA also cited economic expert Ehsan Soltani as pointing to a 20 percent increase in the price of goods and services in the past six months (April to October) and wrote: "During this period, the price of the dollar increased by 25 percent."

Soltani stated that "eliminating the state currency and promising subsidies will not help the livelihoods of the poor," adding: "At the current dollar price," in the coming year, "the inflation rate will be above 30 percent," and "after that, high inflation rates await the Iranian economy."

According to a report, Hamidreza Haji Babaei, head of the Parliament's Program and Budget Commission, has announced that about 40 million people in the country need urgent assistance.

Economist Farshad Momeni has also said that the security perspective on the issue of poverty in this country has made it impossible to discuss it.

Journalist Navid Jamshidi, in an interview with Voice of America, said that the Iranian authorities' inattention to solving economic problems will lead to the joining of protest rallies and will target the entire Islamic Republic.