Iran’s president Hassan Rouhani recently claimed that the economy is spinning and that the issue of high prices and scarcity of goods is just related to the last few days of the Persian calendar year, calling it ‘some abuse and propaganda’ that ‘induces a shortage of goods and ultimately shocks prices,’ but among the media and government officials no one buys his ‘nonsense.’
They call his speeches in all the areas of the country’s subjects ‘Speech Therapy’ and conflicting with the truth. One of the officials in this regime Sadegh Zibakalam who is close to Rouhani’s faction even said that “what Mr. Rouhani said is just Speech Therapy.”
“It was so fake that even the people close could not accept and believe it, let alone the ordinary people. For example, his statement that next year we will no longer have the problem of coronavirus and our economy will be back on its feet was like a joke. Even those around him did not believe it, let alone the people. Rouhani talks about the economy and its non-deterioration in such a way that one thinks that there are two societies. One that is in the real world and the other that is in the minds of Mr. Rouhani and his colleagues.” (Arman daily, March 18, 2021)
Etemad newspaper also wrote a piece examining the economic situation, especially the high cost of goods and rising inflation:
“As the last days of 1399 (according to Iran’s calendar) draw to a close, important economic indicators such as liquidity, inflation and economic growth do not show promising figures.”
“Inflation and liquidity until the end of February (2020) were reported at 34.2 percent and 3300 trillion tomans, respectively, which could be a warning signal for rising inflation next year.”
“According to the latest report of the Statistics Center, the annual inflation rate in February this year was 34.2 percent, which shows that the annual inflation in the one month left to the end of the year (Persian calendar) is 12 percent away from the targeted inflation in May.”
“High annual inflation has spread to other commodity groups, such as food and non-food items, with food point-to-point inflation of about 70 percent and non-food inflation reported at 42.6 percent, with some food items becoming scarce within a few months.”
“According to the Statistics Center, about 17 food items increased by 100 percent or more in February. On the other hand, the price of 38 products out of 53 selected food products is higher than the point-to-point inflation rate in the whole country in February.” (Etemad, March 18, 2021)
In another article entitled ‘The Bright Shadow of the Economy’, Arman newspaper has criticized the economic policies of the Rouhani government.
This study not only refutes Rouhani’s claim, but also darkens the economic and social outlook for 1400 (2021-2022).
“From the set of past and present events, it is possible to make an approximate prediction of the events and conditions of the people in 1400. With the trend that was adopted in 1399 (2020-2021), inflation and high prices removed the middle class from the society and only two rich and poor classes remain in the society.”
“Some people spend 200 million tomans per meter in housing and others spend the night on rooftops. If inflation moves in the same direction, the poor class will also disappear.”
“Before the outbreak of the coronavirus, there was unemployment in our society and there is no doubt that in 1400, the number of unemployed people will increase. Unemployment brings with it all-encompassing problems for society and causes the social harms to grow significantly.” (Arman, March 18, 2021)
Therefore, it is not unreasonable that when Rouhani makes claims about the changes in the economy and the progress of affairs in other fields, not only the Iranian people but also those around him (Sadegh Zibakalam) laugh at him, because he always tries to make axioms about the critical situation and deny all problems.
But amazing is that lying in this regime is like a tumor. Before him vice president Eshaq Jahangiri claimed, “In no other government, have we progressed as much as in the government of prudence and hope [the Rouhani administration] in the country.” (Kayhan, 1 March 2021)
