President of Turkey Recep Erdogan addresses journalists during the final national press conference during the high level NATO summit in Litexpo Conference Centre in Vilnius, Lithuania on July 12, 2023.
Dominika Zarzycka | Nurphoto | Getty Images
In January, Turkish inflation logged its biggest monthly jump since August with a 6.7% rise from December, while year-on-year inflation hit nearly 65%, according to the Turkish Central Bank’s figures released Monday.
The consumer price index (CPI) for the country of 85 million people increased by 64.86% annually, up slightly from the 64.77% of December. Sectors with the largest monthly price rises were health at 17.7%, hotels, cafes and restaurants at 12%, and miscellaneous goods and services at just over 10%. Clothing and footwear was the only sector showing a monthly price decrease, with -1.61%.
Food, beverages and tobacco, as well as transportation, all increased between roughly 5% and 7% month-on-month, while housing was up 7.4% since December.
Turkey’s central bank has been on a prolonged mission to bring down inflation, implementing eight consecutive interest rate hikes since May 2023, for a cumulative 3,650 basis points. The bank’s latest hike, on Jan. 25, raised the key interest rate by 250 basis points to 45%.
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