Politics

Turkey’s inflation rate reaches 24-year-high of 73% | NHK WORLD-JAPAN News


Turkey’s annual inflation rate soared to 73.5 percent in May, marking the highest since 1998.

Figures released on Friday also show that transportation costs surged 107 percent year-on-year and food prices were up 91 percent.

At the same time, Turkey’s economy has been affected by the tumble of its currency. The lira slumped sharply last year following a series of interest rate cuts by the central bank under President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s economic policy.

Finance minister Nureddin Nebati said on Twitter that the inflation rate is slowing, citing lower-than-before monthly growth rates of prices.

But people are voicing their anger, saying inflation is actually higher than official data and that they cannot make ends meet. An academic group on Friday reported that the country’s annual inflation rate was more than 160 percent based on its own research.



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