At least 14 million Iranians live below the poverty line, according to a central bank report quoted by the press on Monday, adding to concern about the welfare of those worst off in Iran as prices soar. The central bank figures, published in the reformist daily newspaper Sarmayeh, represent one in five of Iran's 70 million population.
"If an urban family of four makes less than four millions rials (425 dollars) a month then the family is under poverty line," it said. In August last year, Social Security and Welfare Minister Abdolreza Mesri said around 9.2 million people were living in poverty, 10.5 percent of the population in cities and 11 percent in villages.
Mesri also said that two million people live in extreme poverty in Iran, earning less than 650,000 rials (70 dollars) a month. The latest figures come amid increasing concern over soaring prices in Iran, which have hit the poor and state employees on low incomes particularly hard. Teachers, for example, earn less than 300 dollars a month.
Since Iranian new year in March, the prices of basic foodstuffs, especially fresh vegetables and poultry, as well as services such as taxis have jumped. Iran's inflation rate - which has aroused much criticism of the economic policies of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad - topped 26 percent in June, according to the central bank.
Ahmadinejad has been blamed by many economists for directly fuelling the price rises by ploughing huge amounts of cash into the economy to fund local infrastructure projects. The government insists, however, that it has inflation under control and that booming oil receipts allow it to splash out on necessary infrastructure projects.
Iran, the second biggest oil exporter in Opec, last year enjoyed oil revenues of 60 billion dollars in the last Iranian year to March. But there has been a sharp increase in money supply growth - a key indicator of future inflation trends - to almost 40 percent during the years of the Ahmadinejad presidency.