Turkey: Inflation drops again in February
Inflation came in at 55.2% in February, down from January’s 57.7%. February’s reading marked the lowest inflation rate since February 2022 and was in line with market expectations. The decline was largely driven by a favorable base effect. Price pressures moderated across the basket, with food and non-alcoholic beverages, housing and utilities and restaurants and hotels registering notable downticks.
Accordingly, the trend pointed down, with annual average inflation coming in at 71.8% in February (January: 72.4%). Meanwhile, core inflation fell to 50.6% in February, from January’s 53.0%.
Finally, consumer prices increased 3.15% in February over the previous month, which was below January’s 6.65% rise.
Analysts at the EIU commented on the outlook:
“Base effects will cause year-on-year inflation to ease in 2023. However, we expect inflation to remain far above historical levels (about 10%) ahead of the elections, fuelled by generous government spending and widespread formal and informal backward-indexing of pay and price increases.”