Turkish inflation slows to 52pc in August: official data

Turkey’s annual inflation rate slowed
further in August to 52 percent after reaching 61.8 percent in July, official
data showed on Tuesday.

The central bank began to raise interest rates last year in an effort to
battle soaring prices, after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dropped his
opposition to orthodox monetary policy.

Turkey’s annual inflation rate reached a decades-long high of 85 percent in
October 2022.

It fell to 38.2 percent in June 2023 before rising again. It reached 75
percent in May this year but started to fall in June.

The biggest price rises in August were in education, at 120.8 percent,
housing at 101.5 percent, and hotels and restaurants at 67.7 percent,
according to the Turkish statistics institute.

On a month-to-month comparison, consumer prices rose 2.5 percent in August.

A central bank survey of investors has forecast that inflation would reach
43.3 percent by late 2024.

The government avoided raising the minimum wage in July in efforts to tame
inflation. It had raised it in the previous two years.

Independent economists say Turkish inflation is higher than official
estimates and has reached 90.35 percent. (BSS/AFP)