Turkey’s annual inflation eases to 7 percent after food prices decline

ANKARA

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Turkey’s monthly inflation rose much lower than estimates in November after a decline in food prices, pushing down the annual inflation rate to 7 percent, the Turkish Statistical Institute’s (TÜİK) November 2016 report revealed on Dec. 5.        

Monthly inflation was 0.52 percent in November, lower than market expectations of around 0.8 percent.         
The annual inflation was 7 percent, compared to 8.1 percent in November 2015, TÜİK stated.      

İş Investment economist Muammer Kömürcüoğlu said the declining trend was mainly due to a decrease in food prices. 

“The food group prices regressed in contrast to our expectations, changing the whole inflation picture. The inflation rate was down 14 basis points,” Kömürcüoğlu said, as quoted by Reuters. 

“Today’s figures have showed that the slowdown in domestic demand has continued to affect both headline inflation and core inflation,” he added.

The highest monthly decrease was observed by 0.58 percent in food and non-alcoholic beverages in November, the TÜİK report showed. The highest monthly increase was in clothing and footwear, with 3.89 percent.

The highest annual increase was by 22.61 percent in alcoholic beverages and tobacco, followed by miscellaneous goods and services by 10.92 percent, transportation by 9.57 percent, education by 9.5 percent and health by 9.16 percent.