Inflation rate slightly rises in Iraq in 2024
Part of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad. Photo: AP
Baghdad (IraqiNews.com) – The Iraqi Ministry of Planning announced on Sunday that the inflation rate in Iraq slightly increased by 0.4 percent during the first months of 2024.
The spokesperson of the Planning Ministry, Abdul Zahra Al-Hindawi, told Shafaq News that the inflation index is always on the rise with no decline worldwide, noting that the inflation rate in Iraq is normal.
Al-Hindawi clarified that the inflation rate rose last January by 0.4 percent compared to December 2023, while the annual inflation rate between January 2023 and January 2024 rose by the same percentage.
Last November, the Central Bank of Iraq (CBI) announced that the inflation rate declined in 2023 compared to 2022.
Inflation in Iraq reached approximately 3.7 percent in August 2023, compared to 4.4 percent in August 2022, despite the rise in inflation in Iraq’s trading partners, where it reached 46 percent in Iran and approximately 57 percent in Turkey.
Al-Hindawi said earlier that the monthly inflation rate in Iraq during September witnessed no changes compared to August, where the inflation rate rose by 0.5 percent.
The Central Statistical Organization (CSO) of the Iraqi Planning Ministry recorded an increase of four percent in the annual inflation rate in April 2023, compared to the same period in 2022.
In its latest report, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expected that the annual inflation in Iraq would rise to 6.6 percent in 2023.
The IMF explained in its report that the annual inflation in Iraq during 2020 reached 0.6 percent and rose to six percent in 2021.
Expectations also indicated that the annual inflation rate in Iraq will decrease in 2024 to 1.6 percent.