Turkey's annual inflation rate at 17.14 percent in April

Turkey saw an annual hike of 17.14 percent in consumer prices in April, the country’s statistical authority reported on May 3. Last month, the annual inflation went up 0.95 percentage points from 16.19 percent in March, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) said.

Monday May 03 2021 01:39 pm

Duvar English

Turkish annual inflation climbed to 17.14 percent in April, its highest level in nearly two years. As of April, consumer prices have risen 1.68 percent on a monthly basis.

Inflation increased from 16.2 percent to 17.14 percent annually and was expected to rise by 1.8 percent on a monthly basis according to experts in a survey conducted by the state-run Anadolu Agency.

With these figures, the upward trend in inflation that began in November is now in its seventh month, with consumer inflation at its highest level in the last 23 months.

Eighteen of the surveyed economists said they were expecting a rise in inflation. According to the poll, economists' average inflation expectations for April were 1.79 percent. The economists polled had a range of inflation expectations for April, from 1.30 percent to 2.12 percent.

Inflation was 16.19 percent in March with an increase of 1.08 percent from the previous month. Within the different categories of inflation, telecommunications saw a 9.05 percent increase, education saw a 10.21 percent increase, and clothing and footwear saw an 11.03 percent increase, compared to the same months the previous year. Transportation, household goods, and health all saw higher increases compared to the same month the previous year, with 29.31 percent, 22.27 percent, and 19.20 percent, respectively.

The other major expenditure group that decreased in April 2021 was household goods, which decreased by 0.03 percent. Health, with 0.56 percent, and alcoholic beverages and tobacco, with 0.73 percent, were the two groups that saw the smallest increase. Clothing and footwear, on the other hand, saw a 7.57 percent increase in April 2021, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages with 2.13 percent and education with 2.09 percent increases.

281 items’ price increased

The average price of 92 of the 415 items covered by the index decreased in April 2021, while the average price of 42 items remained unchanged. A total of 281 items saw increases in their average price according to data released by TÜİK.

In April 2021, the Consumer Price Index, excluding unprocessed food products, energy, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and gold, increased by 1.65 percent from the previous month, 5.44 percent from December of the previous year, 18.11 percent from the same month the previous year, and 13.82 percent over the twelve-month averages.

Transportation, household goods, and health were the main expenditure groups with higher price increases in April compared to the same month the previous year, with 29.31 percent, 22.27 percent, and 19.20 percent, respectively.

According to TÜİK data, in April, producer inflation increased by 4.34 percent from the previous month and by 35.17 percent from the same month the previous year.

The sub-sectors with the highest increases in the indexes were petroleum products with 159.53 percent, crude oil and natural gas with 109.10 percent, and base metals with 71.71 percent.

Last week, a study made public by Koç University and the Turkish Industry and Business Association (TÜSİAD) pointed out that, in the last ten years, Turkey has been the least successful country in terms of inflation and that Turkey was the only country with an emerging economy that could not keep inflation below 5 percent.

Independent inflation group releases own data

Meanwhile, independent Turkish inflation research group ENAGrup announced that their price index, which calculates daily price changes for the April 2021 period, increased by 2.62 percent compared to TÜİK’s announced 1.68 percent.

According to ENAGrup, the largest recorded monthly decrease was -3.04 percent in Miscellaneous Goods and Services, while the highest monthly increase was 7.12 percent in Restaurants and Hotels.

According to the product group inflation calculation, the product group with the largest monthly decrease was (other) Clothing, with -14.56 percent, and the product group with the highest monthly increase was Intercity Airplane Bus services, with 59.23 percent, ENAGrup announced.