As authorities work to lower skyrocketing consumer costs, Turkey’s annual inflation rate dropped less than anticipated to 48.6 percent in October, according to official statistics released Monday.
In September, inflation decreased to 49.4%, which was also lower than anticipated.
Following President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s abandonment of his resistance to conventional monetary policy, Turkey’s central bank started raising interest rates last year in an effort to combat skyrocketing prices.
For the sixth consecutive month, the central bank maintained its main interest rate at 50% in September.
“The smaller-than-expected fall in Turkish inflation in October … is likely to dash any remaining hopes that a monetary easing cycle will start this year,” said Nicholas Farr, emerging Europe economist at Capital Economics research firm.
“The risks now seem skewed towards interest rate cuts arriving even later than our current forecast of Q1 (first quarter) next year,” he added.
Consumer prices rose by 2.9 percent on a monthly basis in October, according to figures from the TUIK statistics office.
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