The vertiginous increase in food products and the increase in rents cause almost daily demonstrations in Tehran and in the rest of the country.
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A few months ago, when Parvin, 40 years old – who speaks under a pseudonym for security reasons – sought to rent an apartment in Tehran, the prices of real estate plunged him into a deep disarray. The market was inaccessible, even in the very modest districts of the center and the south of the Iranian capital. Until 2017, the year of her departure with her parents in another city in Iran, she nevertheless rented a “decent” apartment there. Today, his research has failed.
Parvin had to accept the proposal of a friend, owner of her accommodation, to settle at her house provided that he pays half of the charges. “Without his help, I could never have had a roof in Tehran,” said this social worker, holder of a master’s degree, who receives 10 million tomans (300 euros) per month.
According to the Iranian Statistics Center, the impoverishment index, which combines the unemployment rate and the inflation rate, has reached its lowest level for twenty-five years. At the end of March, annual inflation reached 40.1 % (compared to 36.4 % a year earlier) and unemployment 9.2 %, undervalued figures according to many economists.
Fruits, vegetables, rice, dairy products, eggs and red meat have experienced a dizzying increase. Especially since in May, the government of the ultra -conservative president Ebrahim Raïssi ordered the suppression of subsidies on certain food products, whose flour, multiplying the price of bread and pasta. The Iranian motto continues to dive. As of June 19, $ 1 was worth 32,000 tomans, five times more than in 2018.
In recent days, these record rates have pushed some traders to descend into the streets of Tehran. Protests which are added to the rallies, almost daily, throughout the country, teachers and workers against the high cost of life.
sustainable economic pressure
Parvin calculates his expenses as closely as possible. “I only go to the grocery stores to do shop wealth, I look at the prices and I go out empty-handed,” she said. Single, she no longer has the means to take the taxi to move and must borrow public transport. She is no longer going to the restaurant. At work, she sees an unprecedented number of retirees coming to beg for help to be able to pay continuing to pay their apartments. “Before, however, I had enough money to go out, travel, take care of me. No more now,” she laments. I live day by day, without being able to project myself. “
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