প্রকাশ: 04/08/2022
Turkish inflation rose to a fresh 24-year high of 79.6
percent in July, data showed on Wednesday as the lira’s continued weakness and
global energy and commodity costs pushed prices higher, though the price rises
came out below forecasts.
Inflation began to surge last autumn, when the lira slumped
after the central bank gradually cut its policy rate by 500 basis points to 14
percent in an easing cycle sought by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
Month-on-month, consumer prices rose 2.37 percent in July,
the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) said, below a Reuters news agency poll
forecast of 2.9 percent. Annually, consumer price inflation was forecast to be
80.5 percent.
Jason Tuvey, senior emerging markets economist at Capital
Economics, said annual inflation may be approaching a peak, with energy
inflation falling sharply and food inflation appearing close to topping out.
“Even if inflation is close to a peak, it will
remain close to its current very high rates for several more months,” Tuvey
said in a note.
“Sharp and disorderly falls in the lira remain a key risk,”
he said.
The biggest annual rise in consumer prices was in the
transportation sector, up 119.11 percent, while food and non-alcoholic drinks
prices climbed 94.65 percent.
Inflation this year has been fuelled further by the
economic impact of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as the lira’s
continued decline. The currency weakened 44 percent against the United States
dollar last year, and is down another 27 percent this year.
The lira was trading flat after the data at 17.9560 against
the dollar. It touched a record low of 18.4 in December.
Annual inflation is now at the highest level since September
1998, when it reached 80.4 percent and Turkey was battling to end a decade of
chronically high inflation.
Last week’s Reuters news poll showed annual inflation was
seen declining to some 70 percent by end-2022, easing from current levels as
base effects from last year’s price surge take effect.
The domestic producer price index climbed 5.17 percent
month-on-month in July for an annual rise of 144.61 percent.
The government has said inflation will fall as a
result of its economic programme, which prioritises low rates to boost
production and exports and aims to achieve a current account surplus.
Erdogan has said that he expects inflation to come down to
“appropriate” levels by February-March next year, while the central bank raised
its end-2022 forecast to 60.4 percent last Thursday from 42.8 percent
previously.
The bank’s inflation report showed the estimated range of
inflation reaching nearly 90 percent this autumn before easing.
Opposition lawmakers and economists have questioned the
reliability of the TUIK figures, claims TUIK has dismissed. Polls show Turks believe
inflation is far higher than official data.
প্রধান সম্পাদকঃ সৈয়দ বোরহান কবীর
ক্রিয়েটিভ মিডিয়া লিমিটেডের অঙ্গ প্রতিষ্ঠান
বার্তা এবং বাণিজ্যিক কার্যালয়ঃ ২/৩ , ব্লক - ডি , লালমাটিয়া , ঢাকা -১২০৭
নিবন্ধিত ঠিকানাঃ বাড়ি# ৪৩ (লেভেল-৫) , রোড#১৬ নতুন (পুরাতন ২৭) , ধানমন্ডি , ঢাকা- ১২০৯
ফোনঃ +৮৮-০২৯১২৩৬৭৭