Baku-APA. The Iranian government and parliament agreed to distribute staple food coupons to some 17 million Iranians in a move to assist the low-income families, semi- official Mehr news agency reported Thursday, APA reports quoting Xinhua.
In a joint meeting, the government and the Majlis (parliament) agreed to give out rice, sugar and cooking oil to poor people and allocate two billion U.S. dollars to support low-income families in light of shortages of basic commodities and high inflation rate, according to Mehr.
Due to the Western sanctions on Iran's energy sector and financial system, the local currency depreciated sharply against foreign currencies in 2012.
The Central Bank of Iran announced recently that the inflation rate in the past 12-month period hit 27.4 percent.
Some Iranian officials and local media have blamed the government's inability in managing the economy and in dealing with the Western sanctions.
On Thursday, one U.S. dollar is sold for about 36,000 rials in Tehran's street market, while it was sold for 13,000 rials in October 2011.
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