Iran’s Supreme Council of Islamic Labor Representatives: Household Subsistence Basket Rate Stands at 11 Million 479 Thousand Tomans
Calculations by the Wage Committee of Iran’s Supreme Council of Islamic Labor Representatives show that the subsistence basket rate for workers’ families in the country has increased once again.
According to a report on Thursday, November 4, by Iran Labor News Agency, ILNA, this calculation, which was conducted by Faramarz Tofighi, head of the Wage Committee of the Supreme Council of Islamic Labor Representatives of the country, indicates that “the household subsistence basket rate in Mehr reached 11 million 479 thousand tomans.”
According to the report, “the percentage of wage coverage in Mehr reached 35.36 percent”; meaning “the minimum wage covers less than 40 percent of the subsistence basket costs and is sufficient for only 10.6 days of the month.”
Based on these calculations, the minimum wage and pension in Iran only “suffice to cover food expenses for an average household of 3.3 people,” provided they consume only “one hot meal” daily, with the other two meals consisting of “cold food served cold.”
Faramrz Tofighi considered the government’s bill to eliminate the 4,200-toman exchange rate as causing “massive profits” several times over for “the elite” and asked: “Does the working community have the resilience to withstand another shock therapy?”
ILNA also reported, citing Ehsan Sultani, an economic expert, on a 20 percent increase in commodity and service prices in the past six months (Ordibehesht to Mehr) and wrote: “During this period, the dollar price increased by 25 percent.”
Sultani, stating that “eliminating the official exchange rate and promising subsidies offers no help to the livelihood of the disadvantaged people,” stated: “With the current dollar price,” in the coming year “the inflation rate will be above 30 percent” and “after that, high inflation rates await Iran’s economy.”
According to a report, Hamid Reza Hajibaba, head of the Parliamentary Budget and Planning Commission, announced that approximately 40 million people from the country’s population need immediate assistance.
Farshad Momeni, an economist, also said that a security-oriented approach to the poverty issue in this country has made discussion about it impossible.
Navid Jamshidi, a journalist, also said in an interview with Voice of America that the indifference of Iranian officials to solving economic problems will cause protest gatherings to merge together and will target the entirety of the Islamic Republic.
