Iran inflation will stay below 21% till year end: Iranian official

TEHRAN, March 5 (MNA) - Iran's inflation rate will not exceed 21 percent during the remainder of this calendar year (March 19), an official with the Central Bank of Iran said on Sunday. Abolfazl Akrami told that the inflation rate is currently declining. The Subsidy Reform Plan has reduced Iran’s unemployment rate and helped maintain its economic growth this year despite speculation by some analysts of a surge in inflation, finance and economic affairs minister said on February 17. Shamseddin Hosseini told that the unemployment rate declined to 11.1 percent in the second quarter of the current calendar year (ended on September 22, 2011) from 13.6 percent during the same period last year. Iran’s economic growth rate stood at 5.5 percent in the previous calendar year, the deputy economy minister said in December, 2011. “The Subsidy Reform Plan is being implemented amid tight international sanctions. These figures show the country’s economic stability,” Mohammadreza Farzin said. The plan, launched in December 2010, allows the Iranian government to gradually slash subsidies on fuel, electricity, and certain goods over the course of five years, with low-income families being compensated with direct handouts