Deputy to Pezeshkian: We are printing money due to a budget shortfall

🔸The executive deputy of the president of Iran described banks as the cause of 67% of inflation in the country, and at the same time admitted that, due to the government’s budget imbalance, it is forced to print money; he also said that war is another factor that exacerbates inflation.

🔸Mohammadjafar Qaimpanah, on Monday, 9 Shahrivar, told ISNA that inflation in different sectors of Iran’s economy ranges between 30% and 80%, and confirmed that the inflation rate for food items has reached 123%.

🔸He nonetheless said the jump in food prices was caused by the removal of the 28,500 toman currency allocation and its conversion into the 140,000 toman rate, and said that this action imposed about six percent inflation on people in the first months.

🔸The executive deputy of the president, meanwhile, claimed that the monthly payment of 80 trillion tomans worth of “kalabarg” (food vouchers) compensates for part of the pressure resulting from these price increases, and that the 123% inflation in food has not been fully imposed on people.

🔸Mr. Qaimpanah also called the performance of banks the most important factor behind Iran’s “chronic inflation illness,” and said banks are the main driver of inflation in Iran.

🔸In explaining the role of banks in creating inflation, Mohammadjafar Qaimpanah said that part of their shortfall forms when the loans they issue are not repaid, and the collateral obtained also does not have sufficient or real value. According to him, in such conditions, a bank that cannot repay depositors’ money borrows from the Central Bank, and the Central Bank, to provide these resources, resorts to printing money.

🔸These remarks were made while Abdolناصر Hemati, governor of the Central Bank, on Tuesday rejected claims about a shortage of foreign currency resources and the possibility of the collapse of Iran’s economy, and said that the Central Bank is prepared to supply up to two billion dollars in currency to curb the market.

🔸Read the full text of this report on the Radio Farda website.