Turkey’s Central Bank raises inflation forecast for the second consecutive time

The Central Bank has raised the forecast for 2017 inflation from 8.5 percent to 8.7 percent; The CB did not change its inflation forecast of 6.4 percent for 2018.

Central Bank President Murat CETINKAYA said in his presentation for the third quarter of the year the 0.2 percentage point increase in inflation forecast was due to food prices.

In the second inflation report of the year announced in April, the Central Bank’s inflation forecast for the end of 2017 was raised to 8.5 percent from 8.0 percent in the first report and the inflation forecast for 2018 year end, from 6.0 percent to 6.4 percent.

Thus, the Central Bank which started the new year with inflation target at 5.0 increased the inflation forecast by 0.7 points, in two reports. The consumer price index, which is considered as the main inflation data in Turkey, has surpassed the annual target by 5.89% in the first half of the year.

In his presentation, CETINKAYA said “We will continue to tighten monetary policy until a significant improvement in inflation is achieved”.

MEDIA