ISTANBUL—Turkish annual inflation slowed less than expected in September to 49.4 percent, official data showed Thursday, a figure which analysts said could disappoint central bank officials after a series of interest rate hikes.
Turkey’s central bank began to raise rates last year in efforts to battle soaring prices, after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dropped his opposition to orthodox monetary policy.
The September inflation figure was higher than the 48.1 percent consumer price increase forecast by Turkish economists cited by local media. Inflation had reached 52 percent in August.
“The smaller-than-expected decline in Turkey’s headline rate to 49.4 percent y/y [year-on-year] in September will be a disappointment to policymakers at the central bank,” Nicholas Farr, emerging Europe economist at the London-based Capital Economics, said in a note to clients.
He said the figure showed that a monetary easing cycle was unlikely to start until 2025 —later than most other analysts have been forecasting. AFP
