Iran crisis: ‘We hardly make ends meet. I wonder how poor families survive’

Iranian rials – fast losing value against the dollar – are handed over at a shop in Tehran. Photograph:

Abedin Taherkenareh/EPA   Parvin, a housewife in Tehran, explains how the currency crisis is affecting ordinary Iranians   The Guardian, October 5, 2012   In Iran, it was always hoped that the man who asks for your daughter’s hand would be an engineer or a doctor. But now, with the crisis over the national currency, one joke says: “We had happily assumed that our daughter had married a foreign exchange dealer, but to our dismay it turned out that he was faking and was merely an engineer.”   My country’s currency, the rial, is losing its value rapidly and we feel its impact in the prices of staple goods, household products and almost everything else. We are a middle-class family and can hardly make ends meet. I wonder how poor families survive.   Prices are going up every day but our income remains static. The money in our pocket comes from my husband who works in a public office. In comparison to last year, his salary has risen very little whereas our daily needs, such as milk, cheese, chicken, are going up disproportionately.   The price of chicken has doubled since the beginning of the year. Our bills, too, have gone up. When our tenancy contract was due to expire a month ago, the landlord wanted to increase the rent significantly. My husband pleaded with the landlord but the response was: “You either accept or leave.” We had nowhere to go.   The only way we can cope with the situation is to eliminate some items from our daily basket. I used to buy a variety of fruits and staples but now I have to limit myself to one or two items. I also have to cook food which is cheaper and use less meat.   We used to be a busy family with lots of relatives visiting us every week. Now we rarely invite people for meals. In our culture, it’s rude not to insist the guest stays for dinner but these days, people don’t visit friends or relatives because they don’t want to put a burden on their shoulders. In this way, social life has been affected, too.   Back in 2005 when Ahmadinejad was campaigning to become the president, we liked him; he was simple, easy to understand and promised economic justice for everyone. Now that the country is in a mess, no one can bear his face on national TV any more. Back then, almost 9,000 rials was equal to one dollar. Now it is more than 30,000.