Turkey inflation rises to nearly 70 percent in April

ANKARA

Turkey’s annual consumer price inflation increased from 61.1 percent in March to 69.97 percent in April, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) has reported.

Consumer prices increased by 7.25 percent on a monthly basis in April, after increasing by 5.46 percent in March. The monthly inflation rates were 11.1 percent in January and 4.8 percent in February.

In April last year, the annual inflation in Turkey was 17.1 percent, while in the same month of 2020, it was 10.9 percent.

Food and non-alcoholic beverage prices increased by 13.4 percent in April from March, for an annual rise of 89 percent, the TÜİK data showed.

Housing costs were up 7.43 percent month-on-month and the annual increase was 61 percent.

Clothing prices rose by 7 percent month-on-month and 26.2 percent year-on-year.

Transport costs soared 106 percent in April compared to the same month of 2021 and the annual increase in communication prices was 18.7 percent.

Education costs rose 27.7 percent and the prices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products rose by 56.3 percent in the month from a year earlier.

TÜİK reported that the prices of onion, lettuce and tomatoes were up 69.3 percent, 45.3 percent and 42.3 percent, respectively, last month from March.

The domestic producer price index increased by 7.67 percent month-on-month in April for an annual rise of 121.82 percent.

In April, the country’s Central Bank lifted its annual consumer price inflation forecast for end-2022 from 23.2 percent three months ago to 42.8 percent.

In the quarterly inflation report released on April 28, the bank also revised upwards its end-2023 forecast from a previous 8.2 percent to 12.9 percent. It expects the annual inflation rate to ease to 8.3 percent at the end of 2024.

Inflation will start to decline after May, Central Bank Governor Şahap Kavcıoğlu said at the launch of the inflation report.