UPDATE - Annual inflation in Türkiye eases to 35.4% in May, lowest since 2021

UPDATES WITH TURKISH FINANCE MINISTER'S COMMENTS

By Mucahithan Avcioglu

ISTANBUL (AA) - Türkiye's annual inflation was at 35.41% in May, down from 37.86% in April, official figures from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said Tuesday.

The figure was the lowest Türkiye has seen since December 2021, when it was 36.08%.

The market expected the annual inflation to come in at 36.10% and monthly inflation at 2% for last month.

Consumer price index (CPI) increased by 35.41% annually and 1.53% monthly.

The highest price rises on a yearly basis were seen in education with 71.67%, housing 67.43%, and health 40.12%, according to TurkStat data.

The lowest increases were in clothing and footwear with 14.12%, communications with 19.25%, and transport with 24.59%.

TurkStat said there were three main expenditure groups with the highest weight: food and non-alcoholic beverages with inflation of 32.87%, along with transportation with 24.59%, and housing with 67.43%.

"The contributions of these main groups to the annual change were 8.25% for food and non-alcoholic beverages, 4.07% for transportation and 9.34% for housing," it added.

The monthly inflation rate was 1.53% in May, down from 3% in April.

Commenting on the data, Türkiye's Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said the goods inflation was 28.7%, the lowest in the last three and a half years.

"Due to the steady decline in inflation and improvement in expectations, services inflation also decreased by 45 points compared to the previous year, falling to 51.2%. This rate is the lowest level seen after June 2022," he said on X.

"As a result of our policies that we implement with determination, predictability, financing opportunities and the investment environment will improve, productivity will increase, and welfare will increase with sustainable high growth, along with ongoing disinflation," Simsek added.