As Iranians get ready to welcome Nowruz, the Persian New Year, they have very little to celebrate. With the economy on a continued decline and the prices of basic goods on a continued rise, millions of Iranian families are struggling to make ends meet, let alone celebrate Nowruz with sweets, new clothes, new furniture, and presents for their children.
According to the semi-official ISNA news agency, fish is being sold at up to 3 million rials per kilogram, which is about a tenth of the monthly salary of a labor-class family. The price of cooking herbs is around 120,000 rials per kilogram and Iranian rice is being 600,000-900,000 rials per kilo. Fish and herbed rice is the traditional dish of Iranians at Nowruz, but at current prices, it will cost a family of four must pay up to 4 million rials to honor this tradition, a luxury millions of Iranians can’t afford.
Clothes, fruit, and nuts, other items regularly purchased during Nowruz season have also seen a significant price hike.
In Tehran pistachio is being sold at more 5 million rials per kilogram, which is the highest recorded price. Almonds, cashew nuts, and hazelnuts have similar prices. The sale of nuts has decreased by more than 40 percent year over year, and people are replacing pistachios, almonds, and hazelnuts with the less expensive sunflower seeds and chickpeas.
According to some media outlets, people’s ability to purchase fruit has decreased considerably. Merchants are reporting that there’s no shortage of fruits in markets because no one is buying. For example, at 3.2 million rials per kilo, bananas have almost disappeared from food tables.
Seasonal street vendors that fill the streets of Tehran in the final years of the Persian calendar year are reporting that they had very little sales.
It is worth noting that Ebrahim Raisi, the regime’s new president, promised to control prices when he assumed office in August. But at the turn of the year, his government’s failure to improve the lives of the people is evident.
The situation has been so disastrous that even the Majlis (parliament), which is aligned with Raisi’s policies is deliberating a plan to impeach the minister of industry, mining, and trade.
Regime officials are trying to frame the situation as an economic achievement by claiming that the markets are full of goods for Nowruz. But merchants say that people are only coming to the market to watch and can’t buy goods and economic experts are warning of the possibility that many businesses and markets that depend on Nowruz purchases might collapse in the first months of the year.
