Page 14 - IRANRptMay19

4.2.2 PPI dynamics
Iran’s PPI up 53.9% y/y in 10th month of Persian year
The SCI announced that its analyses showed that the current PPI rate in the country stood at 53.9% in the 10th Persian calendar month. That indicates that Iran is entering hyperinflation territory.
This is in comparison to just an increase of 15.2% y/y in the fifth month of the 2018/2019 Persian calendar year (ended August 22).
The rise in the PPI can be partly ascribed to the severe devaluation of the Iranian rial (IRR) seen in recent months, with producers raising their prices to compensate for the feed-through into inflation.
4.3 Labour and income
4.3.1 Labour market, unemployment dynamics
Unemployment rate stood at 12.4% in last fiscal year
According to the Statistical Centre of Iran (SCI), the country’s unemployment rate in the last fiscal year (ended March 20) stood at 12.4%, 1.4% up on the previous year. However, the actual unemployment rate is likely to be higher than that given methodology which means that if a person has just one hour of work a week officials count them as employed.
Youth unemployment (covering the 15-29 age range), stands at least twice the general joblessness rate, according to latest available data, while university graduate unemployment is thought to be around 40%. Despite the many times the government has stressed the need to boost employment, overall youth unemployment has risen more than 5% in the past three years.
The minimum monthly salary in Iran stands at IRR9.3mn ($240), while the average monthly salary stands at IRR23.3mn ($617) per month, according to a report from the Financial Tribune on April 15. The report shows that living conditions in the country have improved following several years of a drop in the quality of life, due to the removal of sanctions.
The average Iranian earns IRR278.8mn ($7,416) per annum. However, the report noted the average family spends on average 262.3mn ($6,978) per year
14 IRAN Country Report May 2019 www.intellinews.com