Turkey Annual Inflation Eases To 37.9% • Channels Television

Turkey’s annual inflation rate slowed in April for the 11th month in a row, official data showed Monday.

Consumer price rises slowed to 37.9 per cent, down from 38.1 per cent in March, figures from the Turkish statistical institute (TUIK) showed.

Turkey has experienced double-digit inflation since 2019, making life increasingly more expensive for millions of people.

The decline came as Turkey struggled to contain the political fallout from the jailing of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s biggest political rival, Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu.

His removal sent the Turkish lira to record lows against the dollar and sparked the country’s worst street protests in over a decade.

Month-on-month, consumer prices rose by 3.0 per cent in April, with the surge notably affecting education costs (79.2 per cent), housing (74 per cent), hotels and restaurants (41.8 per cent) and healthcare spend (41.9 per cent).

Turkey’s annual inflation exceeded 75 per cent in May 2024, before starting to slow in June.

The decline prompted the Turkish central bank to lower its benchmark interest rate from 50 per cent to 42.5 per cent, although last month it hiked the rate to 46 per cent over the unrest generated by Imamoglu’s arrest and uncertainty about US tariffs.

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Official inflation figures are disputed by independent economists from the Inflation Research Group (ENAG), who said the year-on-year rise was 73.8 per cent in April.

Since Imamoglu’s jailing, the lira has been trading at a historic low of around 38 to the dollar.

Economists say the lira’s decline could jeopardise Ankara’s goal of cutting inflation to 24 per cent by the year’s end, notably by making imports more expensive.

AFP