Annual inflation eases to 18.71 percent in May

ANKARA

Turkey saw an annual hike of 18.71 percent in consumer prices in May, the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK), reported on June 3.

Last month, the annual inflation went down 0.79 percentage points from 19.5 percent in April.

“Data released today show an important decrease in consumer, producer and core inflation figures on an annual basis,” Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said on Twitter.

“The declining trend in inflation continues. Hopefully, we will meet our targets at the end of the year,” he added.

According to the latest inflation report of the Central Bank, the year-end annual inflation would be 14.6 percent, hovering between 12.1 percent and 17.1 percent.

The government said in the New Economic Program, released in September, its inflation rate target is 15.9 percent this year, 9.8 percent next year and 6.0 percent in 2021.

Over the last decade, annual inflation saw its lowest level at 3.99 percent in March 2011, while it peaked at 25.24 percent in October 2018.

Data from TÜİK yesterday showed that the highest annual price increase was recorded in food and non-alcoholic beverages with 28.44 percent in May.

“Miscellaneous goods and services with 26.75 percent, furnishing and household equipment with 24.54 percent, recreation and culture with 20.06 percent and hotels, cafes and restaurants with 19.77 percent were the other main groups where high annual increases [were] realized,” the institute said.

According to TÜİK, consumer prices rose by 0.95 percent in May on a monthly basis.

“The highest monthly increase was 8.88 percent in alcoholic beverages and tobacco,” the institute said. “The highest monthly decrease was 1.58 percent in furnishing and household equipment.”

“In May 2019 with average prices of 418 items in the index, average prices of 48 items remained unchanged while average prices of 267 items increased and average prices of 103 items decreased,” it added.

The official figures also revealed that the 12-month average hike in consumer prices was 19.91 percent as of this May.