The Statistical Center of Iran (SCI) said the country’s Consumer Price Index (CPI) had risen by 0.2 percentage point, to reach 26 percent year-on-year in the month ending September 21.

It showed inflation rate for urban households had increased to 26.1 percent while rural households had seen the annual rate unchanged halfway through the Persian calendar year, Press TV reported.

Monthly inflation in Iranian cities was also up 0.1 percent, at 3.6, while the increase for the rural population was higher, at 0.3 percent, to reach 3.6 percent, said the report.

Calculated on a point-to-point basis, a methodology routinely used by the SCI, the CPI showed the inflation rate had topped 34.4 percent, meaning households had paid around a third more for consumer items in the month to late September, compared to the similar month in 2019.

The slight increase in annual inflation in Iran comes despite a sluggish consumption amid the coronavirus outbreak. Households continue to spend less some seven months after the outbreak began in late February.

That comes as the government has eased restrictions on economic activity to help businesses recover from months of closures.

Inflation deteriorated in Iran following a US decision in 2018 to withdraw from a major international nuclear agreement which led to the reimposition of Washington’s secondary sanctions on businesses and entities dealing with Iran.

That comes as the spread of the coronavirus and lower international oil prices have hampered government efforts to shore up the economy.

Large Japan’s household spending drop will add to growing pressure on policymakers to ramp up moves to restore confidence among businesses and in particular consumers, financialpost.com reported.

Household spending slumped 16.2 percent in May from a year earlier, government data showed on Tuesday, falling at the quickest pace since comparable data became available in 2001.

The drop, which was larger than a median market forecast a 12.2 percent fall, followed an 11.1 percent decline in April.

A spending recovery is expected to be fragile and takes time as households remain reluctant to loosen the purse strings even after a nationwide state of emergency was lifted in May.

Still, the Bank of Japan is expected to roughly maintain its view the economy will gradually recover later this year, sources familiar with its thinking said.

Tuesday’s data showed large cuts in spending on hotels, transportation, and eating out as people stayed at home.

On the other hand, stay-home policies boosted spending on beef and sanitary goods like face masks.

Overall, the outlook for household spending is dim for the months ahead because of an anticipated rise in job losses, which is weighing on sentiment.

Separate data on Tuesday showed May inflation-adjusted real wages dropped at the fastest pace since June 2015, in a sign of stress in the labor market.