Consumer prices increased 3.5 percent in October

ANKARA

Consumer prices in Türkiye increased by 3.54 percent in October from September, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) have shown.

On the back of the October data, annual consumer price inflation accelerated from 83.45 percent in September to 85.51 last month.

Clothing and footwear recorded the highest monthly increased at 8.34 percent, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages at 5.09 percent, furbishing and household equipment prices rose by 4.38 percent in October from September.

Alcoholic beverages and tobacco prices were up 3.3 percent, while hotel, cafe and restaurant prices exhibited a monthly increase of 2.64 percent.

Housing and transport costs increased by 2.57 percent and 2.19 percent, respectively. Communication prices were up 2.6 percent.

Among the 144 basic headings in the consumer price index, 13 decreased and 4 remained unchanged while the index of 127 basic headings increased, said TÜİK.

On an annual basis, the highest increase was in transport prices, which leaped 117 percent in October from the same month of 2021. Food prices were up 99 percent year-on-year and housing costs soared 85.2 percent.

Excluding food, energy, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and gold prices, the consumer price index rose by 3.24 percent last month from September, which brought the annual increase to 77 percent, according to TÜİK data.

Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati reiterated earlier this week that inflation will fall starting December.

Last week, the Central Bank lifted its end-2022 inflation forecast from a previous 60.4 percent to 65.2 percent.

The bank also increased its estimate for end-2023 from 19.2 percent to 22.3 percent but kept the forecast for 2024 unchanged at 8.8 percent.

The forecasts indicate that the underlying inflation will gradually decline in 2023 and onwards in a framework where monetary policy is determined in line with the objective of achieving price stability on a sustainable basis, said Central Bank Governor Şahap Kavcıoğlu.

Food prices will decline towards the year-end and complete 2022 at 75 percent, and 2023 at 22 percent, according to the governor.

Last month, the Central Bank slashed its policy rate (one-week repo auction rate) from 12 percent to 10.5 percent.

In its latest edition of the Medium-Term Program, the government forecasts that inflation will decline to 9.9 percent in 2025.