Inflation in Iraq rises in May by 3.4% – Iraq Future Foundation

The Iraq Future Foundation (IFF) announced on that the annual inflation rate in May 2024 rose by 3.4 percent throughout Iraq, according to inflation data issued by Iraq’s Central Organization for Statistics.

A report issued by the IFF mentioned that the annual inflation rate in the Kurdistan region of Iraq reached 5.34 percent and ranged between 2.25 and 2.6 percent in the rest of the Iraqi governorates.

The report mentioned that the biggest price increases were for power services (45.47 percent), cigarettes (23.7 percent), fish (14 percent), entertainment services (12.9 percent), and meat (10.39 percent).

The IFF also reported that inflation rates for fruits, vegetables, dairy goods, and oils decreased throughout Iraq.

According to these data, it is peculiar that while the prices of goods that are imported using banking transactions—such as meat, electrical appliances, furniture, and dairy products—have increased, the prices of goods that are imported from countries where banking transactions are forbidden and that rely on the black market to provide the foreign exchange needed to buy these goods have decreased.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said in April that inflation in Iraq is expected to reach four percent in 2024.

In February 2024, Iraq’s Central Organization of Statistics and Information Technology (COSIT) monitored a slight increase in the inflation rate.

The annual inflation rate monitored by the COSIT rose during February by 0.6 percent, compared to the same month in 2023.

The annual inflation rate in January reached 0.4 percent, compared to January 2023.

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 neighboring countries.

The inflation rate reached 46 percent in Iran and approximately 57 percent in Turkey.