Türkiye Posts Increase in February Inflation

(MENAFN) Türkiye's annual inflation accelerated in February, edging higher than the previous month and marginally exceeding analyst projections, as price pressures persisted across key consumer spending categories, official data showed Tuesday.

The country's annual inflation rate rose to 31.53% last month, up from 30.65% in January, according to figures released by the Turkish Statistical Institute, known as TurkStat. The reading came in slightly above a forecast of 31.4% projected in a survey conducted by Anadolu the previous week.

Prices in the three heaviest-weighted expenditure categories climbed sharply on an annual basis — housing surged 42.33%, food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 36.44%, and transportation increased 28.86%. In terms of their individual contributions to the overall annual inflation figure, food and non-alcoholic beverages accounted for 9.07 percentage points, housing for 6.24 percentage points, and transportation for 4.63 percentage points.

On a monthly basis, however, consumer prices rose 2.96% in February — a notable deceleration from the 4.84% month-on-month increase recorded in January, offering a modest signal of easing short-term price momentum.

The 12-month average inflation rate stood at 33.39%, a marked decline from 53.83% recorded over the same period a year earlier, reflecting the gradual, if uneven, progress Ankara has made in bringing down persistently elevated price levels.

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