TEHRAN- Inflation rate in Iran is predicted to go down to under 20 percent in the coming Iranian calendar year (begins on March 19), Central Bank of Iran (CBI) Governor Abdolnaser Hemmati announced on Tuesday.

Speaking to the media after the annual conference of “Resistance Economy”, the official said, “Our goal is curbing inflation rate and no estimation shows an inflation rate of over 20 percent for the next year”, IRNA reported.

As announced by the Statistical Center of Iran (SCI), inflation rate in the twelve-month period ended on January 20, which marks the end of the tenth Iranian calendar month of Dey, stood at 38.6 percent.

The SCI said that the inflation rate has fallen 1.4 percent in the mentioned time span from the twelve-month period ended in the last day of the ninth Iranian month of Azar.

In the Iranian calendar year of 1395 (ended on March 20, 2017), Iran could manage to experience a single-digit inflation rate after 26 years.

The inflation rate stood at 9.8 percent in that year according to the Statistical Center of Iran and at nine percent according to CBI.

But since the last year’s calendar month of Khordad (ended on June 22, 2018), when the inflation rate stood at 10.2 percent, as announced by the CBI, the country’s experiencing double-digit inflation rates again.

On Tuesday, Hemmati also put the liquidity growth at 28 percent at the end of the tenth Iranian calendar month of Dey, and emphasized the CBI’s effort to control liquidity growth in the country.

The CBI governor further said that it’s unlikely that Iran will be put on the Financial Action Task Force (FATF)’s blacklist.

MA/MA