The Central Bank of Iran has announced that the inflation rate for the past Iranian year (Mar 20, 2007 to Mar 20 2008) stood at 18.4%.

It also said that the price index of the basket of basic goods and services consumed by urban Iranian households rose 3% for the month of Esfand (the last month of the Iranian calendar year, February 19-March 20) in comparison to the previous month.

Also on Sunday, Iran's Minister of Economy and Finance Davoud Danesh-Ja'fari expressed hope that the government would succeed in controlling inflation for the current Iranian year.

MJ/HAR