Azerbaijan, Baku, Jan.9 / Trend F.Milad/
The inflation rate in Iran for the 12-month period ending on December 20 hit 27.4 percent, the Central Bank of Iran (CBI) announced on Wednesday, the Mehr News Agency reported.
However, the experts believe that the real inflation rate in Iran has reached over 50 percent in the recent months.
"The figures obtained on the ground show that the inflation rate is over 50 percent and some unofficial sources even claim it was 196 percent," ILNA quoted Iranian university lecturer and economist, Mehdi Taghavi as saying earlier.
Taghavi believes that the Iran's currency (rial) has lost over 80 percent of its value during the past few months.
"While the average economic growth in the Middle-East and North Africa region stands at 5 percent, Iran's economy is shrinking," he said.
Taghavi added that the country's inflation is the highest in the MENA region.
In its semi-annual World Economic Outlook, the IMF forecast that Iran's gross domestic product will shrink 0.9 percent this year after 2 percent growth in 2011.
Its prediction for this year was a downgrade from the forecast of 0.4 percent growth in its last report in April, but the IMF projected GDP will expand next year by 0.8 percent.
The IMF expects inflation to moderate to 21.8 percent in 2013 from 25.2 percent in 2012. Many private economists, however, think inflation is well over 30 percent.
