News - Middle East: Figures by Iran’s statistics agency (SCI) show the annual inflation rate for the country’s manufacturing sector reached 32.9% in the calendar month to May 21.

SCI figures published on Tuesday showed that the producer price index (PPI) in Iran’s manufacturing sector had reached 1,716.4 in late May.

The rate represents the increase in price that was charged by manufacturers in Iran for goods and equipment they sold inside the country in the year to late May compared to the previous same period.  

The SCI said that Iranian producers and bottlers of non-alcoholic drinks had the highest price rises in the year to late May, with an inflation rate of 47% while garment and textile producers had reported the lowest rate at 20.5%.

The manufacturing PPI reported in May was up 1.9% from the previous month and represented a 44.6% increase from May 2024, said the statistics agency.

It said the PPI reported for Iran’s mining and metals sector had risen to 2,930.1 in late May, an increase of 32.8% from the previous same period.

Mining inflation rate rose by 4% from April and by 47.6% from May last year, the SCI figures showed.

Coal mining activities had the lowest inflation rate in the year to May at 30% while “non-major mines” reported the highest rate at 36.1%, according to the figures.

Iran has seen a boom in its manufacturing and mining activities since 2018, when the United States imposed sanctions on the country’s oil exports, prompting the Iranian government to introduce economic diversification policies.

The relatively high rates of inflation in the Iranian manufacturing and mining sectors are consistent with a broader pattern of high but controlled inflation in the country, which many experts believe is a result of the US sanctions and the dominant global inflation trends.

Press TV