Central bank: Iran's inflation hits 27.4 pct
The inflation rate in Iran for the 12-month period ending on December 20 hit 27.4 percent, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced on Wednesday, Trend news agency reported referring to Mehr agency.
However, the experts believe that the real inflation rate in Iran has reached 50 percent in the recent months.
"The figures obtained on the ground show that the inflation rate is over 50 percent and some unofficial sources even claim it was 196 percent," ILNA news agency quoted Iranian university lecturer and economist, Mehdi Taghavi as saying earlier.
Taghavi believes that the Iran's currency (rial) has lost over 80 percent of its value during the past few months.
"While the average economic growth in the Middle-East and North Africa region stands at 5 percent, Iran's economy is shrinking," he said.
Taghavi added that the country's inflation is the highest in the MENA region.
In its semi-annual World Economic Outlook, the IMF forecast that Iran's gross domestic product will shrink 0.9 percent this year after 2 percent growth in 2011.
The IMF expects inflation to moderate to 21.8 percent in 2013 from 25.2 percent in 2012.