Economy Turkey inflation to fall sharply in December says finance minister By Reuters August 24, 2022 Creative Commons The surge in prices has badly strained households just over a year before presidential and parliamentary elections Turkey’s annual inflation rate will enter a sharp downward trend as of December due to favourable so-called base effects and the fall will continue throughout 2023, Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati said on Tuesday. Nebati was speaking in a televised interview with broadcaster NTV. Inflation hit nearly 80 percent in July. Turkey’s annual inflation jumped to a two-decade high of 69.97 percent in April, according to data issued earlier this month, fuelled by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and rising energy and commodity prices after last year’s lira crash. The surge in prices has badly strained households just over a year before presidential and parliamentary elections that could bring the curtain down on President Tayyip Erdogan’s long rule. Erdogan first came to power as prime minister in 2003 before switching the country to a presidential system, and the unorthodox interest rate cuts made last year under pressure from him have been blamed for lighting a fire under inflation. Month-on-month, consumer prices rose 7.25 percent, the Turkish Statistical Institute said, compared to a Reuters poll forecast of 6 percent. Annually, consumer price inflation was forecast to be 68 percent.
