Data showed today, Thursday, that the annual inflation rate in Turkey jumped to about 70% last April, bringing the highest level of inflation in two decades, driven by the Russian-Ukrainian war and the rise in commodity prices after the collapse of the lira late last year.
The annual inflation in Turkey reached 61.14% last March.
The Turkish Statistical Institute said that consumer prices rose 7.25% on a monthly basis, compared to expectations of a Reuters poll for a rise of about 6%.
Consumer price inflation was expected to reach 68% y/y.
The local producer price index increased by 7.67% on a monthly basis in last April, recording an annual increase of 121.82%.
At the end of last April, the Turkish Central Bank raised its inflation forecast by the end of this year to 42.8%, compared to its forecast last January of inflation of 23.2%.
The central bank attributed the adjustment of expectations to the repercussions of the high costs of energy imports and the weakness of the lira.
Supply chains around the world are experiencing major problems during the current period, which makes primary products more expensive.
And the prices of many raw materials continue to rise, particularly due to the Russian war on Ukraine.
The Turkish Central Bank does not intervene to resist these developments by raising interest rates, in compliance with the principles adopted by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, according to a report by the German News Agency.