After it was announced that inflation decreased to 0.02 percent in February compared to one month earlier, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) marked the inflation level at 8.78 percent per annum on Thursday. The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) attributed the decline to falling prices in energy and unprocessed foods. The CBRT added that the delayed effects of the exchange rate on price levels have continued to decrease.

According to data from TurkStat regarding February's sectoral data, the indices rose 1.31 percent for miscellaneous goods and services, 1 percent for alcoholic beverages and tobacco, 0.78 percent for hotels, cafes and restaurants, and 0.77 percent for transportation.

In February, the indices declined 0.42 percent in the communications sector, 0.13 percent in recreation and culture, and 0.04 percent in the food and non-alcoholic beverages sector.

The other main sectors that experienced high annual increases included alcoholic beverages and tobacco with 12.78 percent, miscellaneous goods and services with 12 percent, recreation and culture with 11.25 percent and furnishings and household equipment with 11.04 percent.

The TRA2 (Ağrı, Kars, Iğdır, Ardahan) region experienced the highest CPI increases at 2.88 percent compared to data from December 2015, followed by the TR62 (Adana, Mersin) region with 9.82 percent compared to the same time period and the TR31 (İzmir) region with 8.69 percent on the 12-month moving averages basis.

According to the average pricing benchmarks of 417 items on the index, the average price of 38 items remained unchanged in February, while the average price of 245 items increased and the average price of 134 items decreased.