The Iranian government is to reduce its state subsidy for bread by 1,500 tomans for the next fiscal year, making the country’s staple diet unaffordable to the nation’s poorest families.
State-run daily Doniayeh Eqtesad, meaning World of Economy, said of the budget for the Persian year of 1394: “This is one of the most important changes in the figures of the 1394 proposed budget compared to the current year. According to this budget, the subsidy for bread is predicted at 2300 billion tomans compared to 3800 billion tomans this year, which represents a reduction of 40 per cent.”
Some 12 million Iranians are living in poverty according to a senior official of the Iranian regime. Yet the government of Hassan Rouhani has decided to increase the price of bread (the main source of nourishment for poor Iranians) by 40%.