Turkey’s official inflation climbs to 62 pct in November

Duvar English

Turkey’s consumer price index (CPI) increased by 3.28 percent on a monthly basis in November, while annual inflation rose from 61.36 percent to 61.98 percent in one month, according to the official data released by the government-run Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

According to the independent Inflation Research Group (ENAG), CPI increased by 5.58 percent monthly and 129.27 percent annually in November.

This is the highest official inflation rate in 2023. Turkey’s central bank in November increased its year-end inflation projections for this year and next to 65% and 36% respectively. The disinflation would start after it peaked at around 70%-75% in May 2024, according to the bank.

Among the main groups, hotels, cafes, and restaurants saw the largest annual price surge with 92.86 percent, while housing posted the lowest with 37.54 percent.

The increase in restaurants and hotels was followed by healthcare with 82.13 percent and education with 81.49 percent.

The housing category, encompassing bills like natural gas, water, and electricity, witnessed the highest monthly increase, reaching 11.17 percent.

The increases in the housing category were followed by alcoholic beverages and tobacco at 9.16 percent and communication at 3.43 percent.

Seven of the 10 products with the highest price increase in November were food.

These included butter at 13.63 percent, canned food at 11.94 percent, fresh milk at 10.30 percent, cheese at 9.94 percent, dried vegetables at 9.97 percent, poultry meat at 5.68 percent, and rice at 4.97 percent.

The Research Center of the Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK-AR) calculated the average food inflation as 67 percent and the food inflation of pensioners as 82.5 percent in November. “While the food inflation of the poorest income group was 105.5 percent, the food inflation of the highest income group remained at 48.9 percent. This situation reveals that inflation is felt significantly differently according to income groups, different social segments and classes.”

Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek made a statement on inflation figures on X, “The decline in core inflation, which continued in November, is encouraging. Monthly increases in the C index weakened significantly; September at 5.28 percent, October at 3.72 percent, and November at 1.96 percent. This indicates a serious loss of momentum in inflation.”