The Iranian government’s statistics (SCI) agency has reported a slight drop in the rate of inflation in the country in the calendar month to May 21.
SCI figures published on Sunday showed that Iran’s annual consumer prices index (CPI) had dropped by 0.5% to stand at 38.7% in the second month of the calendar year 1401.
The figures showed that that annual CPI had dropped by 0.4% to 38.3% for urban households and by 0.8% to 40.8% for families living in the countryside in May.
The inflation rate for food, beverages and smoking products rose 6% to 49.4% in May while inflation in the non-food and services category rose 2.7% to 34% over the same period.
Iran’s monthly inflation rate rose 0.2% to 3.5% in May, said the SCI. The figures do not represent impacts of price hikes of food products announced by the government earlier in the month.
The CPI calculated on a point-to-point basis, a measure frequently used by the Iranian statistics agency in recent years, stood at 39.3% in May, meaning that households had spent around 40% more on various goods and services compared to the month to late May 2021.
Iran has reported high but controlled levels of inflation since 2019 when the country started to feel the economic impacts of American sanctions on its oil exports. The inflation rose further in 2020 amid the spread of the coronavirus in Iran.
SCI figures published in recent months have pointed to a downward trend in inflation rate in Iran. That comes as an administrative government that came to office in August says it has tamed the inflation through implementing a series of sound monetary and fiscal policies.