Iran's inflation rate accelerates to 25.3%

Tehran: Iran's inflation rate accelerated to 25.3 percent in the year to May 20, the central bank said.

Prices in the month of Ordibehesht, which ended May 20, rose 25.3 percent compared with a year earlier, the central bank said in a statement posted on its Web site today. Inflation was 24.2 percent the previous month.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in April dismissed Economy Minister Davoud Danesh-Ja'fari, who blamed record inflation on high government spending.

Inflation was 10.9 percent in the month after Ahmadinejad was elected in August 2005.

There are presidential elections next year.