Latest news with #enflasyon
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.
Bloomberg
6 days ago
- Business
- Bloomberg
Erdogan Backs Turkey Economy Plan But Repeats Distaste for Rates
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan reiterated his opposition to interest rates while endorsing the country's orthodox economic program, which relies on high borrowing costs to curb inflation. 'I've fought against an interest-based economic system,' Erdogan said at an event on Islamic banking, which prohibits charging interest and endorses profit-sharing. He added that he would continue to express his 'longing' for an interest-free economy.
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.
Asharq Al-Awsat
22-05-2025
- Business
- Asharq Al-Awsat
Turkish Cenbank Keeps Inflation Forecast at 24%
Türkiye's central bank left its year-end inflation forecast unchanged at 24% on Thursday but Governor Fatih Karahan said it is ready to tighten policy if inflation worsens, after having pivoted to raising interest rates last month. Presenting the bank's quarterly inflation report in Istanbul, Karahan said steps taken by the bank had hindered a serious deterioration in inflation expectations and that the fall in inflation would continue in the rest of 2025. Last month, the bank tightened its policy rate by 350 basis points and set the lending rate at 49% in response to market turmoil that erupted in March over the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's main political rival. In Thursday's report, the central bank kept its year-end inflation mid-point forecast at 24% while leaving its end-2026 projection unchanged at 12% and end-2027 inflation at 8%, Reuters reported. The central bank commonly adjusts its end-year inflation forecast, and last left it unchanged in August last year. The lira, which had weakened sharply after the mayor's arrest, was at 38.85 against the dollar on Thursday as the inflation briefing continued - firmer than its close of 38.8835 on Wednesday. "We will be always ready to tighten our monetary policy stance in case we foresee a significant and persistent deterioration in inflation," Karahan said at the briefing. He said the outlook shows that the tight stance in policy should continue and the bank will take necessary precautions if demand conditions impact the inflation outlook negatively. Inflation risks are upward right now and the bank has the flexibility to set its funding rate above the policy rate with its tools, he said, noting that the recent tightening came when the bank was in a cutting cycle, so the impact would be higher. Karahan added that a slowdown in economic growth would be more evident due to the tightening and this would support disinflation. Before the latest rate hike, the central bank had begun an easing cycle and cut its policy rate to 42.5% as inflation fell from the level of more than 75% reached in May 2024. The market turbulence triggered in March by Imamoglu's arrest on corruption charges - which he denies - also drained central bank reserves and caused sharp foreign outflows, notably in the bond market. But inflows have since resumed and the central bank returned to being a buyer of forex this month, purchasing billions of forex in a rebound after nearly two months of declines in which it had sold $57 billion since mid-March.
