Turkey’s March inflation jumps more than expected on higher food costs

ANKARA

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Consumer prices in Turkey increased 1.2 percent in March over the previous month, data showed on April 3, as rising food costs pushed inflation well above market expectations.

“The main reason behind the rise in the headline inflation is food prices,” Gizem Öztok Altınsaç, chief economist at Garanti Securities, was quoted as saying by Reuters.

“Core figures which exclude food prices improved significantly. Consumer prices rose 1.19 percent month-on-month,” the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) said, well above the 0.89 percent increase forecast in a Reuters poll.

For the year, consumer inflation increased 7.61 percent. Domestic producer prices rose 1.05 percent on the month, for an annual rise of 3.41 percent, the data showed.

The highest annual increase was 14.12 percent in food and non-alcoholic beverages, followed by hotels, cafes and restaurants at 12.76 percent, miscellaneous goods and services at 8.44 percent, health expenditures at 8.43 percent and housing at 8.03 percent.

The Central Bank said in January that it expected the year-end consumer price index to come in at 5.5 percent, compared with the lender’s target of 5 percent.

Price gains are still higher than the bank’s official target, mainly due to food prices and a weakening Turkish Lira, the bank said.