Inflation in Turkey again fell slightly in May, but remains high at 18.7 percent. Prices for food were 28.4 percent, well above the average, as the Turkish statistics office TÜIK announced today. Furniture and household goods also saw a strong price increase of 24.5 percent. Overall, inflation was 0.79 percentage points below April, when it was 19.5 percent.
Inflation is driven by the weakness of the lira, which plummeted last August amid a dispute with the US. Although the central bank stopped the currency’s decline in September by raising its key interest rate to 24 percent, the lira’s weakness drove import prices higher. Inflation reached 25.2 percent in October, before falling below 20 percent earlier this year.
To cope with the rise in the cost of living, the government has set up municipal stalls in Ankara and Istanbul, offering vegetables at reduced prices. The difficult economic situation also characterized the local elections at the end of March, during which the ruling AKP party lost the cities of Ankara and Istanbul to the opposition. In Istanbul, however, after a complaint by the AKP on June 23, newly elected.
