Lines Grow Outside Iran's Shops as Food Prices Rise Under International and Western Sanctions Over Tehran's Disputed Nuclear Program
Food price hikes raise concerns in Iran
AP - Iranians lined up to buy cooking oil and meat in Tehran on Monday, as price hikes threatened to stir discontent less than two months before presidential elections.
Despite government assurances that the new rate will go not go into effect for several weeks, many people are stocking up on goods before prices rise even more. The government has banned prices hikes until the new measures are in place and dispatched inspectors to keep tabs on businesses.
"Any price rise is illegal," said Mojtaba Farahani, an official in the Commerce Ministry. "So far a remarkable number of reports have been filed about wholesale and retail shops," he told the semiofficial ISNA news agency.In Tehran, stores were crowded with people rushing to beat the hikes. In one grocery, homemaker Neda Rahimi quickly scooped up the last three bottles of cooking oil left on the shelves.
"Everyday prices are going higher and higher. I will take these for now, so I have some extra at home," said the mother of two.In another shop, 48-year-old high school teacher Asghar Niazi said a government announcement in March to raise public sector wages had encouraged stores to raise prices.
"Now every shop has hiked its prices up more than 20 percent. I was here to buy cooking oil, but people snapped it all up before I arrived."Frustration over the price hikes has resonated in Iran's tightly controlled media, which has grown increasingly critical of the government over the past year for the surge in costs for milk, chicken, rice and locally made cars.
On Monday, a string of newspapers warned that the new currency rules could add to restlessness ahead of the June 14 election to select a successor to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
The commentaries, which came from across the political spectrum, suggest disputes within the country's closed ruling system. Even the influential conservative daily Kayhan, which often supports the policies of Iran's ruling clerics, referred to "hidden hands" working from behind the scenes to provoke discontent.
The more moderate Hamshahri newspaper ran a front page article focusing on "expanding" prices, accusing officials of trying to "downplay" their effects. Another daily, Haft-e Sobh, reported traffic jams in front of major stores because of long lines of customers rushing to make last-minute purchases.