The National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), and the People’s Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI / MEK Iran), reported that the people in Iran have been protesting in recent days due to water shortages, power outages, and economic pressures. The water crisis sparked the first protests in Khuzestan in early July 2021. Protests have extended to other Iranian cities fifteen days later, with protesters demanding for a regime overthrown.
The skyrocketing prices
As per the state-run media, “although the main dynamics of these protests have been attributed to water scarcity and related environmental crises, if we look deeper, these protests and unrests have even deeper roots.
This includes the increasing livelihood problems, the skyrocketing prices, and the growing poverty, which water shortages and environmental crises have amplified. Livelihood problems, such as skyrocketing prices, have long sounded the alarm for protests.”
Iran’s financial crisis is worsening
Iran’s financial crisis is worsening due to inflation rates and escalating prices, that are ruining Iranians lives, according to the regime’s state-run media.
Iran’s point-to-point inflation rate was 44 percent till mid-July, according to the manipulated numbers presented by Iran’s state media. In other words, Iranians will have to spend 44% more on basic goods and services in July 2020 than they did in July 2020.
20 percent annual inflation
On July 24, the state-run Resalat daily reported, “The average annual inflation rate in the world over the past decade has been around 5 percent, but the Iranian economy in the 2010s has experienced more than 20 percent annual inflation.”
“Iran has one of the highest inflation rates in the world. Increasing the cost of living is the most important factor of psychological pressure on people. The increasing cost of housing and rent is the second factor doubling the pressure on people.
Banknote printing and increased liquidity
The first effect of inflation on people’s lives is a reduction in their purchasing power, which in many cases causes a lot of damage and can negatively affect the economy, business, production, and people’s lives,” Resalat continued.
Iran’s high inflation rate is due to the regime’s banknote printing to cover its budget deficit, which has raised liquidity and inflation rates.
“Banknote printing and increased liquidity are two factors that have contributed to the rise in inflation.
The regime’s systemic corruption
According to the Central Bank, rising inflation was caused by the substantial expansion of the monetary base and government borrowing from the central bank in the spring of 2021, as evidenced by macroeconomic statistics released in June.
It has also sparked concerns regarding the expansion of liquidity,” the Resalat daily reported.
However, the regime’s systemic corruption is the primary cause of Iran’s economic crisis.
Iranians are suffering from great poverty
“Unbridled cost of goods and services needed by the people, auction of public revenue sources and closure of hundreds of factories and production centers, the declining value of the national currency, giving 30 billion dollars in currency and 60 tonnes of gold to corrupted [regime officials], and increasing the price of housing eight times,” the state-run Keyhan daily acknowledged. The Iranian people’s livelihoods have been harmed by rising inflation, stagnation, and the Gini coefficient, as well as the spread of poverty, unemployment, and the social gap.
In a nutshell, the regime is unable to address Iran’s economic issues and as a result, Iranians are suffering from great poverty as the regime fails to assist them.
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