ISTANBUL (AFP) – Turkiye’s inflation rate slowed for a third successive month in January, official data showed yesterday, after a record that threw the economy into chaos and imperilled President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s chances in May 14 polls.
Consumer prices grew at an annualised rate of 57.7 per cent in January compared to 64.3 per cent in December, according to the state statistics agency.
It peaked at 85.5 per cent in October – the highest rate of Erdogan’s two-decade rule.
The reading delivers a welcome boost for Erdogan heading into a close presidential and parliamentary election in which he will seek to extend his mercurial rule until 2028.
Economists attribute the slowdown in part to a slide in the price of Turkiye’s energy imports.
Natural gas prices have fall back to early 2022 levels after soaring in response to the invasion of Ukraine.
