Iran - Fifteen million living in poverty
Adnkronos International - World News
May 7, 2008

Tehran  - Fifteen million people are living below the poverty line in Iran, according to new figures released by the government.

"The percentage of the population living below the poverty line has grown," said Ali Asghari, Iran's vice-president, who is responsible for economic planning.

"Around 20 percent of the population are unable to satisfy their basic food needs."

Ashghari said two million of the country's 15 million paupers live in extremely difficult conditions and are going hungry.

The figures appear to counter recent comments by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who dismissed suggestions that nine million were living in poverty as "an exaggeration" and an attempt to "discredit the country".

Asghari also said the situation could worsen if the government stopped subsidising several essential items.

The Iranian government currently spends around five billion dollars on subsiding food and other essential items.

Razzaq Sadeghi, from the economic daily newspaper, Sarmayeh, questioned the figures from the vice-president.

"If we calculate the need for a human being to consume at least 2,200 calories a day, if they are not to be defined as poor, then the number of poor people in Iran is much higher, and we could say that 50 percent of Iranians live under the poverty line," Sadeghi told Adnkronos International (AKI).

Forecasts for the future are also bleak. In the last ten days, the price of rice, the staple item for Iranians, has doubled to three euros per kilogramme.

"News from Asian countries like India, Pakistan and Thailand, from whom we import rice, does not augur well, and by the end of the year, we could see the price of rice register a further increase of 250 percent," Sadeghi said.

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