Turkish inflation drops to single digits after 26 months

ANKARA

Turkey saw an annual hike of 9.26 percent in consumer prices in September, data from the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) showed on Oct. 3.

The annual inflation rate went down 5.75 percentage points from 15.01 percent in August.

TÜİK data revealed that the figure dropped to single digits for the first time since July 2017.

“We have made a remarkable progress in the fight against inflation,” Finance and Treasury Minister Berat Albayrak commented on the latest inflation figures.

“This was a significant gain made after the currency attack in August. Our new target is to bring inflation down to 5 percent while preserving those gains. We will spread our achievements in the current account and inflation to all other fields in the economy,” Albayrak said on Twitter.

“We will work tirelessly and we will win at the end,” he added.

Under Turkey’s new economic program announced by the government on Sept. 30, the country’s inflation rate target is 12 percent this year, 8.5 percent next year, and 6 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.

At the end of this July, the Central Bank of Turkey lowered the country’s year-end inflation forecast from 14.6 percent to 13.9 percent, hovering between 11.5 percent and 16.3 percent through the end of 2019.

Monthly inflation

TÜİK calculated that the highest annual price increase was recorded in alcoholic beverages and tobacco, with 43.86 percent in August.

“Health with 15.41 percent, miscellaneous goods and services with 14.98 percent, hotels, cafes and restaurants with 14.87 percent and education with 14 percent were the other main groups where high annual increases realized.”

A state-run Anadolu Agency survey showed that a group of 14 economists forecast an average annual climb of 9.64 percent in consumer prices in September.

According to data from TÜİK, consumer prices rose 0.99 percent month-on-month.

“The highest monthly increase was 2.15 percent in housing,” it said, adding: “The highest monthly decrease was 0.60 percent in food and non-alcoholic beverages.”

“In September 2019 within average prices of 418 items in the index, average prices of 42 items remained unchanged while average prices of 292 items increased and average prices of 84 items decreased,” the institute said.

The official figures also showed that the 12-month average hike in consumer prices was 18.27 percent as of this September.