A cash changer holds Turkish lira and U.S. greenback banknotes at a foreign money change workplace in Ankara, Turkey December 16, 2021.
Cagla Gurdogan | Reuters
Turkey’s annual inflation rose to 68.5% for the month of March, a rise on February’s 67.1% inflation learn, in accordance to the Turkish Statistical Institute’s report released Wednesday.
The month-to-month rise in shopper costs got here out at 3.16%, led by training, communication, and resorts, eating places and cafes, which noticed month-on-month rises of 13%, 5.6%, and three.9%, respectively.
On an annual foundation, training once more noticed the very best price inflation at 104% year-on-year, adopted by resorts, eating places and cafes at 95% and well being at 80%.
Turkey has launched a concerted effort to deal with hovering inflation with curiosity rate hikes, most just lately elevating the nation’s key rate from 45% to 50% in late March.
Much of the inflation in current months stems from a big increase to the minimum wage that Turkey’s authorities mandated for 2024. The minimal wage for the 12 months rose to 17,002 Turkish lira (round $530) per 30 days in January, a 100% hike from the identical interval a 12 months prior.
Economists count on additional rate hikes from the central financial institution might be essential.
While the March inflation rely represents “the smallest monthly increase in three months and suggests that the impact of the large minimum wage hike in January may now have largely passed, it is still far from consistent with the single-digit inflation that policymakers are trying to achieve,” Nicholas Farr, an Emerging Europe economist at London-based Capital Economics, wrote in an analyst observe Wednesday.
“The latest inflation figures do little to change our view that further monetary tightening lies in store and that a more concerted effort to tighten fiscal policy will be needed too,” he mentioned.