Iran President Issues Orders to Push Down Soaring Prices

Mahmoud Vaezi, the Chief of Staff of President Rouhani, said the issue of soaring prices across Iran has been raised and seriously explored during cabinet meetings.

Rouhani is expected to hold a special meeting with his cabinet ministers on the issue on Monday, Vaezi was quoted as saying in a report by Donya-ye Eqtesad.

According to Vaezi, during the upcoming meeting, the top officials will explore the current satiation and make a final decision to put an end to the price hikes.

He went on to say that certain organizations which receive US dollars at the governmental price of IRR 42,000 don’t have proper control over the pricing process.

“The president has urged all relevant organizations to step into the fray and contribute to efforts to control the soaring prices,” he said.

Vaezi also said all goods reserved in the stores should be distributed among people and added the car manufacturers should sell their products based on the fixed prices.

The soaring prices come amid rapid drop of the Iranian rial’s value against US dollar. The prices of gold and cars and the exchange rate for the US dollar reached record high in Iran on Monday with each dollar traded for over 70,000 Rials in Tehran’s foreign exchange market.

Meanwhile, the price of various models of vehicles has risen between 20 million and 400 million Rials over the past two weeks. This comes as a number of leading foreign car manufactures including Peugeot, Citroen, and Hyundai have already decided to leave Iran. Meanwhile, some other manufacturers have limited their output, and this has led to a further rise in prices.

Reports say a similar hike in price is taking place in the housing market that has made buying or renting a house or a flat not affordable for most people.

Back in April, the Iranian government tried to force the rate of 42,000 IR Rials per US dollar after the exchange rate surpassed 60,000 Rials but to no avail because the prices of the dollar and other foreign currencies have kept rising since March.