Turkey’s monthly inflation stood at 1.94% in March, according to data released today by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). Annual inflation eased to 30.87%, while prices have increased 10.04% since the start of the year.
Among the three main expenditure groups with the highest weight, transportation recorded the highest monthly increase at 4.52%. Food and non-alcoholic beverages rose by 1.80%, while housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels increased by 1.91%.
In terms of contribution to the monthly change, transportation added 0.75 percentage points. Food and non-alcoholic beverages contributed 0.46 points, and housing added 0.22 points.
The rise in transportation inflation stems from fuel prices, which surged due to Iran largely closing the Strait of Hormuz amid the ongoing war. In İstanbul, the price of a liter of diesel was around 60 liras on Mar 2, but it has approached 80 liras as of today (1 US dollar = 44.59 Turkish liras).
Turkey introduces fuel price buffer system amid Hormuz crisis
Food inflation remains high
Meanwhile, annual food inflation remained above the inflation rate. For the three largest expenditure groups, annual increases were 32.36% for food and non-alcoholic beverages, 34.35% for transportation, and 42.06% for housing, water, electricity, gas, and other fuels.
These groups contributed 8.25, 5.45, and 6.04 percentage points to the annual inflation figure, respectively.
The 12-month rolling inflation rate, which determines the legal rent increase rate, stood at 32.82%.
Despite multiple court rulings, TurkStat continued to withold its item price list. The institution has not released those figures since Apr 2022.
The Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK) previously sued TurkStat over the matter. The Ankara 6th Administrative Court ruled on Mar 31, 2023, that the requested data must be provided under the right to information. TurkStat also lost its appeal in the case.
However, TurkStat has not included the basket of goods in any inflation announcements for four years. According to TurkStat, which now provides expenditure group statistics instead, prices increased in 127 of the 143 sub-indices covered. Prices fell in 40 sub-indices and remained unchanged in seven.
(VK)
