In a speech Feb. 23, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani touted his administration’s economic achievements. Soon after, both economists and his political rivals questioned his assertions as well as his methods of deriving the extraordinary numbers.
“Last year we brought down inflation for Bahman (January-February) and Esfand (February-March). No one could have predicted that inflation would be zero for Bahman and yesterday the Center for Statistics announced this figure [of zero],” Rouhani said, adding that there was an increase of of 25% in non-oil exports.