Target of 6,8% inflation rate for the end of the year is still achievable, said governor of Turkish Central Bank on Wednesday, amid worries of current 7,7% rate is too high.
“Central bank will firmly keep its cautious monetary policy until the inflation rate is in line with mid-term targets.” said Governor of Turkish Central Bank(TCMB) Erdem Basci in Istanbul at a meeting. “We expect the inflation rate for non-processed food will drop 7% at the end of the year, bringing the overall inflation rate to the target of 6,8%.”
TCMB announced the inflation rate for the third quarter in 2013 as 7,7%.
Turkey has experienced inflation rates per annum over 60% during '80s and '90s, according to TCMB data. The rates came down to single-digit figures after 2003 and has not risen above to two-digit treshold since.
TCMB announced that inflation rate of 7,7% which is above the 6,8% target, wrote Yeni Safak newspaper columnist Fevzi Ozturk on Thursday. “The figure indicates there might be deviation from the targets.”
The increase in some commodity prices caused the overall inflation rate to be above the projected figure, wrote Dunya financial newspaper columnist Mehmet Ugur Civelek. “In this circumstance, the revised figure of 6,8% for inflation rate by TCMB became void, and the markets’ expectations of inflation rate jumps over 8%.”
TCMB’s policy of monetary tightening should be in place, said Basci. “We may implement additional contractionary monetary policies in line with our cautious stance until the mid-term targets for the inflation met.”
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