TEHRAN: Iran''s annual inflation rate fell by over half a percentage point to 13.9 percent in July, central bank chief Mahmoud Bahmani told state media on Thursday.
"By reaching 13.9 percent from 14.5 in June, the inflation continues a downward trend in Iran," Bahmani said.
High inflation was a key issue in campaigning for last month''s disputed presidential vote, in which President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won reÜelection by a landslide. His moderate rivals say the vote was rigged, a charge the authorities reject.
Critics accuse Ahmadinejad of stoking inflation with profligate spending of petrodollars since he came to power in 2005 pledging to share out Iran''s oil wealth more fairly.
Ahmadinejad, who sworn in by parliament on Wednesday, blames high inflation on international energy and food price rises that peaked during 2008 and points to a falling trend since late last year.
The official yearÜonÜyear rate in Iran, the world''s fifthÜlargest oil exporter, has roughly halved since reaching a peak of almost 30 percent in October.
But it remains above the level of some 11 percent when Ahmadinejad first won the presidency four years ago.
Coupled with a lack of jobs, doubleÜdigit inflation is the loudest complaint among many ordinary Iranians.
Economists have said the declining inflation rate is partly due to a slowing economy as a result of lower crude prices and the global economic downturn. ÜReuters
Last updated on Friday 7/8/2009
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