Sharjah24 – AFP: Turkish inflation jumped to a new 24-year high exceeding 83 percent in September, official data showed Monday, after the central bank cut interest rates despite surging prices.
Turkey’s monetary policymakers are bucking the global trend of central bank raising interest rates to combat inflation, as high borrowing rates cool down the economy and prices.
The country’s central bank has followed his philosophy, lowering its policy rate to 12 percent from 13 percent last month.
The TUIK state statistics agency said Monday that consumer prices rose by 83.45 percent in September on an annual basis, up from 80.2 percent in August.
The Turkish lira hit a new record low of 18.56 against the dollar following the announcement.
A respected monthly study released by independent economists from Turkey’s ENAG research institute also showed prices soaring — at a much higher rate than the one reported by the state statistics agency.
ENAG said the official annual rate of consumer price increases reached 186.27 percent in September, compared to 181.37 percent in August.