Inflation in Turkey is skyrocketing.
In July, goods and services rose by 79.6 percent year-on-year, according to the Turkish Statistical Office on Wednesday.
Economists had expected an even higher rate of 80.5 percent.
Inflation is thus the highest since September 1998, when it reached 80.4 percent.
The reason for the surge in inflation is, among other things, the ongoing devaluation of the national currency, the lira, which makes imports more expensive.
Added to this are rising oil and commodity prices as a result of the Russian war against Ukraine.
The lira lost 44 percent of its value against the dollar last year.
The downward slide continues this year with a price slide of around 27 percent.
Prices in the Turkish transport sector, which includes petrol, rose particularly sharply in July by 119 percent.
Grocery and non-alcoholic beverages increased in price by 95 percent.
According to the latest Reuters survey, economists expect inflation to fall to around 70 percent by the end of the year.
This is mainly due to statistical effects in view of the surge in inflation last year.
Despite the now highest inflation rate for 24 years, the Turkish central bank has kept the key interest rate stable at 14 percent so far this year.
Such a monetary policy contradicts economic textbooks.
It is supported by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who describes himself as an enemy of interest rates.
Erdogan has set himself the goal of boosting the Turkish economy with low interest rates.
A change in this unorthodox monetary policy is currently not in sight.