Inflation exceeded 60% in Turkey

Turkish consumer prices rose more in March than they have in 20 years. They increased by 61.14 percent compared to the same month last year, as the statistics office announced on Monday.

Economists polled by Reuters had even expected an inflation rate of 61.6 percent after it had been around 54 percent in February. Economists assume that the inflation rate will still be more than 50 percent at the end of the year – not least as a result of the sharp rise in energy prices after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

The Turkish central bank is actually aiming for an inflation rate of five percent, but according to its own forecasts it will still fall well short of this target in the coming year: the increase should then be an average of 8.2 percent. Inflation has been in the double digits for most of the past five years, eating away at Turkish incomes and savings.

Erdoğan is not moving away from his interest rate course
Experts blame the central bank for the development. Despite the drastic devaluation of the national currency, the lira, it gradually lowered its key interest rate from 19.0 to 14.0 percent in the second half of 2021. According to most economists, it would have to do the opposite, namely make its own currency more attractive with higher interest rates.

The lira has lost about half its value against the dollar over the past year, fueling inflation. This is because the country, which is poor in raw materials, imports more goods than it exports. Imports are often settled in dollars and other currencies.

The Inflation Research Group (ENAG), on the other hand, announced that March inflation was 11.93 percent monthly and 142.63 percent annually.

Diesel became the champion of hike with a price increase of 32.67 percent compared to the previous month in March. While gasoline ranked second in this field with an increase of 24.41 percent, coal came in third with an increase of 23.47 percent.

With an increase of 20.56 percent, onion was the fourth product with the highest increase in price in March, while the increase in intercity bus tickets was announced as 20.01 percent.

In March 2022, out of 409 items included in the index, the average price of 69 items decreased, while the average price of 27 items remained unchanged. The average price of 313 items increased.

In March 2022, CPI excluding unprocessed food products, energy, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and gold was 4.24 percent compared to the previous month, 16.38 percent compared to December of the previous year, 51.34 percent compared to the same month of the previous year. and an increase of 27.48 percent compared to the twelve-month averages.