Report indicates 50% dropped in Turkish inflation

Turkey’s annual inflation rate slowed further in August to 52 per cent after reaching 61.8 per cent in July, official data showed on Tuesday.

The central bank began to raise interest rates last year to battle soaring prices after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dropped his opposition to orthodox monetary policy.

Turkey’s annual inflation rate reached a decades-long high of 85 per cent in October 2022.

It fell to 38.2 per cent in June 2023, before rising again. It reached 75 per cent in May this year but started to fall in June.

The biggest price rises in August were in education, at 120.8 per cent, housing at 101.5 per cent, and hotels and restaurants at 67.7 per cent, according to the Turkish statistics institute.

On a month-to-month comparison, consumer prices rose 2.5 per cent in August.

A central bank survey of investors has forecast that inflation would reach 43.3 per cent by late 2024.

The government avoided raising the minimum wage in July in efforts to tame inflation. It had raised it in the previous two years.

Independent economists say Turkish inflation is higher than official estimates and has reached 90.35 per cent.

AFP

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