Turkey's annual inflation at 25.24 percent in October


Turkey's Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 25.24 percent year-on-year in October, the national statistical body said Monday.

The annual inflation increased by 0.72 percentage points from 24.52 percent in September, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat).

On a yearly basis, the biggest price hike of 37.92 percent was in furnishing and household equipment in October

"Transportation with 32 percent, miscellaneous goods and services with 31.5 percent, food and non-alcoholic beverages with 29.26 percent and housing with 25.72 percent were the other main groups where high annual increases realized," TurkStat said.

The Turkish lira weakened after the report and was trading 0.2 percent lower at 5.4381 per dollar at 10:12 a.m. in Istanbul.

The currency lost nearly half of its value against the dollar amid a diplomatic row with the U.S. but has rebounded by more than 25 percent from August's all-time low, according to Bloomberg.

Last month, the Treasury and Finance Ministry launched an "all-out war" on inflation with a set of measures to limit the extreme increases in consumer prices.

Over the past five years, the annual inflation saw its lowest level at 6.13 percent in April 2013, while the figure reached its highest level this October.

As noted in Turkey's new economic program announced in September, the country's inflation rate target is 20.8 percent this year, 15.9 percent next year, 9.8 percent in 2020, and 6.0 percent in 2021.

Last week, the Turkish Central Bank revised Turkey's year-end inflation rate forecast to 23.5 percent.

On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose by 2.67 percent in October, with the highest monthly increase at 12.74 percent in clothing and footwear.

TurkStat noted that the only monthly decrease in consumer prices was recorded in transportation at 0.85-percent.

Children's coats, women's pullovers and men's anorak jackets were the top three items with the biggest price hikes last month while the price of lemons, cucumbers and bananas saw the biggest drop.

"In October 2018 within average prices of 407 items in the index, average prices of 42 items remained unchanged while average prices of 328 items increased and average prices of 37 items decreased," TurkStat said.