The Turkish Statistics Institute (TurkStat) announced earlier this week that consumer prices in Turkey saw a 1.45 percent rise in February over the previous month to reach an annual figure of 10.13 percent. Year-on-year CPI in January stood at 8.19 percent.
“Pressure caused by a recent rise of 21 percent in the price of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products as well as a rise of 8.6 percent in the price of food and non-alcoholic beverages had adverse effects on February figures, which came in above expectations,” the report, prepared by the Okan University Financial Risks Research Center, said. The report also noted that Turkey’s macroeconomic outlook seems negative given recent capacity utilization figures, foreign trade data and unemployment rates. According to the report, the Turkish Central Bank is expected to wait until figures for the second quarter are announced before it intervenes in any policy rates.
