UPDATE - Turkey's annual inflation falls in November

UPDATES WITH BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND MONTHLY FIGURES

By Muhammed Ali Gurtas

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey saw a 21.62-percent annual rise in consumer prices in November, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) reported Monday.

Annual inflation fell by 3.62 percentage points from 25.24 percent in October.

The highest price increase on a yearly basis in November was seen in furnishing and household equipment, with 32.73 percent.

"Miscellaneous goods and services with 27.87 percent, food and non-alcoholic beverages with 25.66 percent, housing with 24.76 percent, and recreation and culture with 21.18 percent were the other main groups where high annual increases were realized," TurkStat said.

Last week, an Anadolu Agency survey showed that a group of 16 economists forecast an average annual climb of 22.61 percent in consumer prices.

According to the survey, Turkey's year-end annual inflation would be 22.57 percent on average, with predictions varying between 21.00 and 25.40 percent.

In September, the Treasury and Finance Ministry launched an "all-out war" on inflation with a set of measures to limit extreme increases in consumer prices.

Over the past five years, annual inflation saw its lowest level in April 2013, with 6.13 percent, and its highest level this October.

As noted in Turkey's new economy program announced in September, the country's inflation rate target is 20.8 percent this year, 15.9 percent next year, 9.8 percent in 2020, and 6.0 percent in 2021.

On a monthly basis, the consumer prices went down for the first time since June 2017, falling 1.44 percent in November.

The highest monthly decrease was 6.46 percent in transportation, as the highest monthly increase was seen in clothing and footwear, up 2.37 percent.

"In November 2018 within average prices of 407 items in the index, the average prices of 38 items remained unchanged while the average prices of 261 items increased, and the average prices of 108 items decreased," TurkStat added.