Turkey's inflation rate slows in August, education costs surge

Turkey's annual inflation rate slowed to 51.97% in August, down from 61.78% in July, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). The monthly inflation rate was 2.47% in August.

The highest monthly increase was in education, at 11.34%, as the school year is set to begin. It is followed by housing, at 8.51%. Food and non-alcoholic beverages were the only category to see a decline, falling by 1.10%.

On an annual basis, education saw the highest increase, at 120.81%, followed by housing, at 101.49%, and restaurants and hotels, at 67.70%. The lowest annual increase was in transportation, at 28.96%, followed by clothing and footwear, at 29.38%.

TurkStat did not release its detailed price data, known as the "goods basket," for August. This is the latest in a series of omissions that began in April 2022 and continues despite court orders.

The Confederation of Progressive Trade Unions of Turkey (DİSK) has sued TurkStat over this issue. In March 2023, an Ankara court ruled that DİSK has the right to access this information. TurkStat lost its appeal against this decision.

Instead of the goods basket, TurkStat released statistics on expenditure groups. According to these statistics, 118 out of 143 basic headings covered in the index increased in price, 3 remained unchanged, and 22 decreased.

The Inflation Research Group (ENAG), an independent group of economists, estimated the monthly inflation rate for August at 3.47%. ENAG's annual inflation rate estimate was 90.35%.

According to the İstanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO), the retail price index in the metropolis increased by 1.73% month-on-month and by 61.57% year-on-year.

Inflation rates

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