Latest news with #MerkezBankası
Asharq Al-Awsat
2 days ago
- Business
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Turkish Inflation Falls to 35.4% in May, Below Forecast
Turkish annual inflation dipped to 35.41% in May, official data showed on Tuesday, below a Reuters poll forecast and less than half the level of more than 75% that it reached a year earlier. Month-on-month, consumer price inflation was 1.53%, the Turkish Statistical Institute said, also below forecasts. In April, inflation stood at 3.0% on a monthly basis and 37.86% annually. In a Reuters poll, the monthly inflation rate was expected to be 2.0% in May, with the annual rate seen at 36.1%. Annual increases were led by education prices, which were up 71.67% on the year, while housing prices climbed 67.43%. Food and non-alcoholic drinks prices rose 32.87%. Inflation is seen at around 30% by end-2025, the poll showed, above a central bank forecast of 24%. Economists have revised up year-end inflation forecasts since March despite the central bank's recent tightening steps. In March, Turkish assets suffered, with the lira touching a record low against the US dollar after Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu - President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's chief political rival - was jailed pending trial over graft charges that he denies. The domestic producer price index rose 2.48% month-on-month in May for an annual rise of 23.13%, the data showed.
Al Arabiya
6 days ago
- Business
- Al Arabiya
Turkey's Erdogan repeats opposition to interest rates, but says economic plan to continue
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday vowed to continue his opposition to interest rates, while saying Ankara was determined to press on with its current economic program until all of its goals are achieved. Turkey had launched the program to reverse the effects of Erdogan's unorthodox views that interest rates cause inflation. Under the program, the central bank had tightened its policy to contain rampant inflation and a currency crisis caused by the president's perceived influence over monetary policy. Speaking at a Global Islamic Economy Summit in Istanbul, Erdogan, a self-proclaimed 'enemy' of interest rates, said work must be done to change and find alternatives to what he called an interest rates-based economic system, and added such a system cannot be viewed as legitimate. 'I have always opposed the distorted system that deepens inequalities, disrupts income justice, and turns billions of people into the slaves of a handful of capitalists. I oppose it again. I have often said that, no matter what, we cannot view as legitimate interest rates and an economic system based on interest rates,' Erdogan said. 'I will continue to voice my longing for an interest rate-free economy from now on too. We will not turn back from our battle for the economic order based on interest rates to change,' he added. However, the president also vowed to continue implementing the economic agenda drafted by his finance minister, Mehmet Simsek, in order to chart a path of disinflation after consumer prices in Turkey soared. 'We are determined to implement our economic program, with which we have made noteworthy progress over the past two years, until it reaches its goals,' he said, and added that the end goal was to achieve single-digit inflation.
