Turkish annual consumer price inflation seen at 19.4 percent in March
ANKARA
Consumer prices in Turkey are expected to rise 19.43 percent year-on-year in March, according to an Anadolu Agency survey.
Turkey’s annual inflation in February was 19.67 percent.
On April 3, the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK) will release the consumer price index for March.
A group of 16 economists forecast monthly inflation of 0.79 percent, with predictions varying between 0.11 percent and 1.20 percent.
In February, consumer prices in Turkey surged 0.16 percent on a monthly basis.
According to economists’ average year-end estimates, annual inflation would be 15.70 percent, with the lowest estimate at 14.50 percent and the highest at 17.60 percent.
Over the last decade, annual inflation saw its lowest level at 3.99 percent in March 2011, while it peaked 25.24 percent in October 2018.
Under Turkey’s new economic program announced last September, the country’s inflation rate target is 15.9 percent this year, 9.8 percent next year, and 6.0 percent in 2021.
Last month, Treasury and Finance Minister Berat Albayrak said that Turkey would see single-digit inflation by September following structural measures by the government.
“High inflation expectations affect production, consumption, international competition, and interest rates,” Albayrak said on March 19.
“For this reason, one of our program’s priorities is reducing inflation permanently and reaching a single-digit inflation rate,” he said.
The minister also recently announced that economic reforms will be announced during the week of April 8.
Turkey will take the necessary steps to strengthen its financial ecosystem, he said.
He noted that monetary and fiscal policies will be normalized in coordination.
The Central Bank is also taking steps independently and will continue to take steps in its own way, Albayrak stressed.
The country’s Central Bank said last month that developments in import prices and domestic demand conditions have led to some improvement in inflation indicators.
“Yet, risks on price stability continue to prevail. Accordingly, the committee has decided to maintain the tight monetary policy stance until inflation outlook displays a significant improvement,” the bank said in a statement released after the Monetary Policy Committee meeting on March 6.
“The bank will continue to use all available instruments in pursuit of the price stability objective. Inflation expectations, pricing behavior, lagged impact of recent monetary policy decisions, and other factors affecting inflation will be closely monitored and, if needed, further monetary tightening will be delivered,” it added.
