Turkey’s annual inflation hits 15-year high at 24.5 pct

ISTANBUL

Turkey’s consumer price index increased 24.52 percent in September year-on-year, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) revealed on Oct. 3.

It rose 6.3 percent from the previous month, far higher than the 3.6 percent average increase in a Reuters poll of 15 economists.

On a yearly basis, the biggest price hike was in furnishing and household equipment in September — up at 37.28 percent — and in transportation at 36.61 percent.

Food and non-alcoholic drinks’ prices, key to consumer price inflation, surged 6.4 percent month-on-month.

Producer prices rose 10.88 percent month-on-month in September for an annual rise of 46.15 percent, the data showed.

After inflation rose 17.9 percent year-on-year in August, the Turkish Central Bank signaled that it would take action against “significant risks” to price stability.

It subsequently raised its benchmark rate by a hefty 625 basis points on Sept. 13, the biggest such increase in President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s 15-year rule, providing some support to the ailing Turkish Lira which has fallen about 40 percent against the U.S. dollar this year.