Türkiye’s inflation eases to 12-month low in February

ANKARA

Türkiye’s inflation rate slowed for a fourth successive month in February, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) have shown.

Consumer prices grew at an annual rate of 55.2 percent in February compared to 57.68 percent in January, according to TÜİK.

It peaked at 85.5 percent in October last year -- the highest rate of the last two decades.

The inflation report comes as the government prepares to pour billions of dollars into rebuilding huge swathes of Türkiye following the massive earthquake that struck on Feb 6.

The earthquake and aftershocks caused an estimated $34 billion in damages across the country, the World Bank said on Feb. 27.

The estimate does not include the eventual costs of reconstruction that are “potentially twice as large,” the Washington-based institution said.

Consumer prices rose 3.15 percent month-on-month, a slower pace than the 6.65 percent surge in January, the highest figure since April 2022, TÜİK’s data showed.

While prices in hotels, cafes and restaurants posted the largest annual hike with 74.34 percent in February, clothing and footwear saw the lowest rise with 21.96 percent, according to TÜİK.

Excluding the prices of food, energy, alcoholic beverages and tobacco products and gold, the consumer price index rose by 7.07 percent in January from the previous month and increased by 57.05 percent from January 2022, TÜİK said.

Clothing and footwear prices were down by 1.76 percent month-on-month. With a 21.69 percent annual increase, it was the main group that indicated the lowest annual increase.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages prices advanced by 7.36 percent last month from January, which brought the annual increase to 69.3 percent.

Housing prices rose by 1.28 percent month-on-month for an annual increase of 55.91 percent, according to the data from the statistics authority.

Health services prices exhibited an increase of 2.11 percent from January.

Tobacco products and alcoholic beverages prices were down by 0.43 percent, while their prices rose by 49.3 percent annually.

Hotel and restaurant prices increased by 4.1 percent, while transport costs were up by 2.6 percent.