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Iran’s Economic Crises, Workers Plight and Consequences

The Iranian people are currently experiencing severe economic crises and skyrocketing prices. Workers, cannot make ends meet.

The Iranian people are currently experiencing severe economic crises. All Iranian citizens, mainly workers, cannot make ends meet due to the high inflation and skyrocketing prices.

Faramarz Toufiqi, the head of the wage committee of the Supreme Council of Unions, acknowledged the poverty line, the huge gap between workers’ rights, and the rampant inflation at their living expenses. He estimated the minimum cost of living for workers in June was about 9.8 million tomans, at least three times more than the workers’ salaries.

“It is not possible to decide for the next year in the previous year. For example, it is not possible to say that inflation is forty percent in 2020 and decide for 2021 accordingly because the inflation in the new year could be 60 percent,” he said according to the state-run Young Journalists Club on July 8.

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Toufiqi said that the rampant inflation in relation to living expenses is 40%. “If a worker receives all his salary, it will be 4.2 million, which is 5 million tomans away from living expenses. This is a very large difference,” he added.

The real inflation rate is much higher than what the regime officials announce.

“Some calculations show that the real inflation rate is higher than the figures announced by the Statistics Center because government institutions do not take into account some real market developments in their calculations,” the state-run Jahan-e Sanat daily wrote in this regard on July 3, 2021.

“Ehsan Soltani is one of the experts who believe that the real inflation rate in June was 71%, and this rate has been calculated by realizing the announced statistics and adapting it to the market realities. Considering this announcement rate, we conclude that the announced inflation rate by the Statistics Center is 28% lower than the real inflation,” Jahan-e Sanat daily adds.

As a result, many Iranians are unable to have the minimum living standards.

“In the past few years, and especially in the last three years, we have witnessed the skyrocketing of the prices of micronutrients and staple foods in Iran, which will affect the quality of people’s health and the growth of children in society,” wrote the state-run Etemad daily on July 8, quoting Hossain Raghfar, an Iranian economist.

“Since 1994, when we experienced structural change policies, we are witnessing very serious damage to the health of people and poor groups in society. In many deprived areas of the country, we face phenomena such as the short stature of young people and the skewness of children due to malnutrition and the unprecedented increase in food prices and lack of consumption of vitamins. Many households cannot buy fruits and vegetables in a situation where we are facing daily price growth. Fruits and vegetables have become luxury items. Today, meeting basic needs such as buying bread has become a serious issue in many parts of the country due to the skyrocketing prices,” Raghfar added.

Raghfar told Etemad that the “Skyrocketing currency exchange rate has caused severely disadvantaged groups in society and the middle class to become poor. The skyrocketing prices also had a severe impact on the country’s human capital sector. In 2020 alone, about 900 members of the young members of boards of the country’s universities have migrated. This is an example. With this salary and the currency exchange rate, the purchasing power of all members of society has been severely damaged.”

The regime and its apologists are trying to blame sanctions for Iran’s crises.

“US economic sanctions have been the pretext used by our governments in recent years, especially the Eleventh and Twelfth Governments, to justify the weaknesses of their management and unbridled inefficiencies in all areas of the economy,” wrote the state-run Jahan-e Sanat daily on July 7.

Jahan-e Sanat then mocks the regime’s efforts to blame everything on sanctions.

“They could have blamed the US and other Western sanctions for the large-scale embezzlement of several trillion tomans and the devastating floods and earthquakes that have occurred in recent years in the north, south, and other parts of the country,” Jahan-e Sanat wrote.

Jahan-e Sanat then acknowledges that sanctions, for the regime officials, “It is a great and indescribable gift. A gift that has afflicted most of the country’s population with poverty and given the minority a dreamy and luxurious life.”

“According to unofficial statistics, about 25 million Iranians live below the poverty line. Some have become super billionaires under sanctions,” Jahan-e Sanat adds.

Jahan-e Sanat then acknowledges that even if all sanctions are lifted, Iran’s economy will be revived due to the regime’s devastating policies and corruption.

“The existence of differing views on the micro and macroeconomic issues of the country and the lack of a strategic plan will not allow the light of salvation to shine on our economy, even if the ongoing talks in Vienna on the revival of the nuclear deal are successfully concluded. Due to the lack of a strategic economic plan in the previous governments, the key to saving the country’s economy from the vortex in which it has been stuck for a long time can no longer be found only in the golden claws of lifting foreign sanctions,” Jahan-e Sanat acknowledged.

The recent protests in Iran, and the nationwide boycott f the regime’s sham presidential election, showed Iranians do not believe the regime can resolve the economic crises since it has created and amplified them.

“Most people do not have anything to lose. The recent strike by oil and chemical workers is like the strikes in 1979 [before the revolution]. These protests are a reaction of the country’s labor force to the current unfavorable situation; It is not an ordinary workers’ protest, but a protest by oil industry workers who have a special place due to the dependence of Iran’s economy on oil exports,” Hossain Raghfar told the state-run Roydad-e 24 on July 7.