UPDATE - Turkey: Annual inflation rate at 11.84% in December

UPDATE WITH MORE DETAILS

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey posted an 11.84% annual hike in consumer prices in December, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced on Friday.

The annual inflation rose 1.28 percentage points last month, up from 10.56% in November.

December 2018 annual inflation rate was 20.30%, according to TurkStat.

A group of 14 economists polled by Anadolu Agency on Monday expected annual inflation to hit 11.51% and monthly inflation to reach 0.45% in December.

The price of alcoholic beverages and tobacco recorded the highest annual rise in the month with 43.12%, while the lowest annual increase was 3.16% in communication.

On a monthly basis, consumer price index saw a rise of 0.74% in December.

"The highest monthly decrease was 1.91% in clothing and footwear," TurkStat said.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages showed a 2.93% rise, transportation 0.57%, and health and miscellaneous goods and services 0.42%.

Official figures revealed that the 12-month average hike in consumer prices was 15.18% as of this end-2019.

Since the beginning of the year, inflation fell by 8.51 percentage points from 20.35% in January. This October recorded the lowest annual inflation rate it had seen in the last three years with 8.55%.

Turkey's inflation rate is expected to hit 12% this year, as laid out in the new economic program for 2020-2022 announced by the government this September.

The country's year-end inflation forecast of Turkish Central Bank was in line with the government's projection.

Over the last decade, annual inflation saw its lowest level at 3.99% in March 2011, while it peaked at 25.24% in October 2018.