Turkey Inflation Strongest Since 2022

Turkey's inflation accelerated to a 16-month high in March on surge in non-food prices, official data revealed on Wednesday.

Consumer price inflation accelerated to 68.50 percent in March from 67.07 percent in February, the Turkish Statistical Institute reported.

Cost of education posted the biggest annual increase of 104.07 percent, followed by hotels, cafes and restaurants and health groups. On the other hand, clothing and footwear with 50.10 percent rise was the main group that indicated the lowest annual increase.

Data showed continuing pricing pressures in non-food groups, confirming the challenges to the disinflation process, ING economist Muhammet Mercan said.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices climbed 3.16 percent, but slower than the 4.53 percent rise in the prior month.

In the near term, April and May inflation data will be in focus to assess the implications of the recent central bank tightening, Mercan noted.

Given this backdrop, the central bank is set to maintain its tight stance and keep the funding costs high, close to the upper band of the interest rate corridor, the economist added.

The central bank had raised its policy rate sharply by 500 basis points to 50.0 percent in March with the aim of ensuring a decline in the underlying inflation and returning it to the 5 percent target in the medium term.

Another data from the statistical office showed that producer prices posted an annual growth of 51.47 percent in March after climbing 47.29 percent in February. This was the fastest rate since last April.

Month-on-month, the producer price index gained 3.29 percent after rising 3.74 percent.

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