Turkish inflation edged higher than expected to 14.6 per cent year-on-year in December as food costs jumped, official data showed on Monday, keeping pressure on the central bank for tight monetary policy even after sharp interest rate hikes.
The Turkish lira has held steady above ₺9 to the euro; it is trading today at ₺9.13.
Month-on-month, consumer prices rose 1.25 per cent in December, the Turkish Statistical Institute said, also above the median forecast of 0.9 per cent in a Reuters poll.
Economists in the poll expected annual inflation would be 14.2 per cent last month, compared to November when it jumped unexpectedly to 14 per cent.
Under new governor Naci Agbal it hiked rates by 675 points since November alone, to 17 per cent. While the lira has rallied in the last two months, analysts said the earlier rise in import prices continued to lift broader inflation.
Last month, the food and transportation subcategories were both up more than 20 per cent year-over-year, the data showed. The producer price index separately rose 2.36% month-on-month in December, for an annual rise of 25.15 per cent.
The government had initially forecast end-2020 inflation would come in at 10.5 per cent in its medium-term programme.