That’s an increase of 20% in less than three weeks, which means that in that short timeframe, the purchasing power of ordinary Iranians has decreased by 20% and the people have effectively become poorer by 20%. This, along with high inflation and liquidity, puts added pressure on Iranians and is a sign of the regime’s total economic bankruptcy. 

The state-run media reports that the liquidity amount has reached 2651 trillion tomans, which will cause a spike in inflation, at a time when the regime has already increased the prices of all goods to steal more money from the people to prop up the regime’s terror program.

Sadegh Ziba-Kalam, a regime expert close to Hassan Rouhani’s government, said on June 25: “Let’s start with simple math and initial division of this year’s budget to determine why each dollar is equivalent to 20,000 tomans? 

“The general budget of the government this year is about 480 trillion tomans … Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, the government did not have 150 trillion tomans or nearly one-third of its 480 trillion toman budget. The budget was approved by [the regime’s] Parliament in December. Approximately half of this budget comes from taxes [195 trillion tomans] and oil exports [at least one million barrels per day at an average of $50 a barrel].” 

Ziba-Kalam tried to blame the budget deficit on US sanctions and the pandemic, which have decreased demand for Iranian oil, something that vice president Eshagh Jahangiri also said in June. While this is technically true, we mustn’t forget that the regime’s institutionalized corruption and support for terrorism are siphoning off a great deal of the people’s wealth.

 

Read More:

Iran – Economic Growth Below Zero, Liquidity Growth Above 2651 Trillion Tomans

 

Hussain Raghfar, another regime economist, told ILNA news agency: “Many of these speculations are in line with the economic policies in Iran, which go beyond the government. The entire political-economic system has decided to use the people’s pockets for the time being to pay the [regime’s] expenses.

“One of the most important decisions to make is to raise the exchange rate. Certainly, the consequences of this decision will be on all people, society, production, and the future of the economy.”

The Parliament Research Centre reports that the poverty line of four-person households in Tehran increased from 2.5 million to 4.5 million tomans in just the past two years, when inflation has soared 80%, and this will only increase in the near future.

“But the regime isn’t prepared to do anything. President Hassan Rouhani said on June 23 that the exchange rate increase “temporary” and “passing“, even if all evidence points to the contrary.

Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), said: “All the promises by the mullahs to the deprived and calamity-stricken people of Iran are hollow and worthless. The only way to end poverty, destitution, and unemployment is to end the mullahs’ evil dictatorship and establish freedom and people’s sovereignty.”