Economists expect a slight inflation fall in Feb.

By Erhan Cihan Unal

ISTANBUL (AA) - Consumer prices in Turkey is expected to rise 20.02 percent year-on-year in February, according to an Anadolu Agency survey on Wednesday.

Turkey's annual inflation in January was 20.35 percent.

Next Monday, the country's statistical authority TurkStat will release the inflation figures for February.

A group of 19 economists forecast a monthly inflation of 0.45 percent, with predictions varying between minus 0.30 percent and plus 0.90 percent.

In January, consumer prices climbed 1.06 percent on a monthly basis.

According to the economists' year-end estimations, annual inflation would be 15.78 percent on average -- lowest at 13.50 percent and highest at 17.60 percent.

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

As noted in Turkey's new economy program announced in September 2018, the country's inflation rate target is 15.9 percent this year, 9.8 percent next year, and 6.0 percent in 2021.

* With writing and contributions by Muhammed Ali Gurtas from Ankara