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Turkey's inflation hits 48.69 pct, highest since 2002

ANKARA
2022-02-04 00:06

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ANKARA, Feb. 3 (Xinhua) -- Turkey's annual inflation surged to a 20-year high of 48.69 percent in January, the Turkish Statistical Institute announced Thursday, amid the country's interest rate cuts and currency turmoil.

The country's consumer prices raised by 11.1 percent month on month in January, according to the data.

In January, the highest annual price increase was in transport with 68.89 percent, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverage with 55.61 percent, and furnishings and household equipment with 54.53 percent.

Meanwhile, The producer price index increased by 10.45 percent on a monthly basis, with an annual rise of 93.53 percent.

Turkey's annual inflation rate was 36.1 percent in December of 2021.

January's inflation rate was the highest since April 2002 and has put further strains on Turkey's economy which was already hit by last year's currency turmoil.

The Turkish lira has lost roughly 60 percent of its value in 2021. The currency crash drove prices of essential goods, food, and utilities much higher, thus bringing down the living standards of households.

To address some of the concerns, the Turkish government has increased the 2022 minimum wage for millions of workers by a whopping 50 percent.

On Monday, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the country will have to carry the burden of inflation for some time.

He noted that the government did not put all the burden of the rise in energy costs on the citizens by raising minimum wages and civil servants' salaries and pensions.

"We have entered a period where the outlook will improve in the months ahead," the Turkish leader said.

Erdogan is an advocate of low interest rates, insisting that the move will lift the burden on investments despite the rising inflation.

Turkey's central bank kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged in January, halting an easing cycle that sparked a currency slump in the latter half of 2021.
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