Annual inflation surges to 54.4 percent

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s annual inflation rate in February hit a two-decade high at 54.4 percent, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) on March 3. 

That figure is up from nearly 48.7 percent in January.

The monthly inflation rate was 4.8 percent in February.

The highest yearly price increase was in the transportation sector, at 75.7 percent, while the increase in food prices was 64.4 percent, according to the data.

The lowest annual increase was 11.9 percent in communication. Education with 22.2 percent, clothing and footwear with 26.9 percent and health with 32.9 percent were the other main groups where low annual increases were recorded.
The next release on this subject will be on April 4, TÜİK said.

The Turkish Central Bank has cut rates by 5 percentage points since September, to 14 percent, despite high inflation rates _ before pausing them in January and February. The Turkish lira lost 44 percent of its value against the U.S. dollar last year.
In a bid to bring some relief, the government last month reduced value-added tax on basic food to 1 percent, from the previous 8 percent.

It also introduced a set of measures to reduce surging power bills, including readjusting the level under which higher electricity tariffs for households and some businesses using more energy kick in.

Inflation is rising across the world due to easy money policies adopted to cushion the blow of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In comparison, annual inflation increased by a record 5.8 percent in the 19 countries that use the euro currency in February and by 7.5 percent in the U.S. in January - the fastest pace in 40 years.