According to the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkiye (CBRT) Monthly Price Developments Report, annual consumer inflation declined in all sub-groups in February, with energy making the most significant contribution to the said decline by 5.02 points.
After the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) announced that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 3.15% in February and the annual inflation fell to 55.18%, the CBRT’s Price Developments Report was also published.
According to the report, annual inflation fell in all subgroups in February.
In line with the outlook in exchange rates and commodity prices, the moderate course of energy prices in recent months continued, while monthly increases in core goods slowed down in this period. Although the price increase in services slowed down compared to the previous month, it remained relatively high, led by items such as catering, training and maintenance-repair.
While the monthly rate of increase in rents decreased significantly compared to the previous month, food prices continued to increase at a high rate, led by vegetables, red meat and milk and dairy products.
While the monthly increase in producer prices weakened in February with the contribution of the significant decline in energy prices, under this outlook, annual inflation in B and C indices decreased, seasonally adjusted monthly increase in indicators slowed down significantly and regressed to their pre-January levels.
“Monthly increase in rents in February slowed down significantly compared to the previous month with 2.66%”
Compared to the previous month, the contributions of core goods, energy, services, alcohol-tobacco-gold, food and non-alcoholic beverages decreased by 1.19, 0.79, 0.28, 0.21 and 0.03 points, respectively.
While price increases maintained their high level in processed food, which is one of the groups that make up the B index, they slowed down in services and core goods, especially in the services group.
Prices of services rose by 3.14% in February, while the group’s annual inflation decreased by 0.78 points to 61.64%.
In this period, annual inflation increased slightly in rents, while it remained flat in communications and other services. Annual inflation decreased in transportation and restaurant-hotel subgroups.
With the effect of time-dependent price adjustments and minimum wage realization in the previous month, monthly price increases in the services group slowed down across subcategories.
While the monthly rate of increase in restaurant-hotel prices, which is affected by input costs through food prices, especially meat, decreased compared to the previous month, but remained high, maintenance and repair as well as education services were the prominent items in the other services subgroup.
In February, the monthly increase in rents slowed down significantly compared to the previous month, with 2.66%.
“White goods prices, which have displayed high increases in recent months, remained flat in February”
The monthly increase in transportation services slowed down, led by the significant drop in passenger transportation fees by air.
While annual inflation in core goods fell by 3.76 points to 41.06%, annual inflation declined in all sub-groups, especially in other core goods.
Prices of durable goods (excluding gold) increased by 2.49%, while automobiles and furniture were the main drivers of this development.
White goods prices, which have displayed high increases in recent months, remained flat in February. With these developments, annual inflation in the durable goods subgroup fell by 1.09 points to 44.93%.
While prices in other core goods increased by 1.14% and showed a significant slowdown compared to previous months, annual inflation in the sub-group decreased by 8.38 points to 48.48%.
Household cleaning materials and household maintenance-repair items stood out with price increases, while pet-related products stood out with price decreases.
While prices in the clothing and footwear subgroup decreased by 1.89% due to the continuation of the seasonal discounts, annual inflation in the sub-group fell by 2.61 points to 20.71%.
“Monthly energy prices showed a significant decrease by -4.47%”
Energy prices maintained their moderate course with an increase of 0.64%.
Thus, annual inflation in this group decreased by 5.02 points to 50.01%. In this period, bottled gas prices increased sharply following the developments in international propane and butane prices, while the increase in fuel and tap water prices was limited.
Prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages increased by 7.36% on a monthly basis, while annual inflation decreased by 1.67 points to 69.33%.
Annual inflation decreased by 2.67 points to 66.13% in unprocessed food, while it increased by 0.31 points to 73.87% in processed food.
Seasonally adjusted data pointed to an increase in fresh fruit and vegetable prices, especially in the vegetable group.
With the end of price-fixing campaigns in the retail sector, significant increases were observed in milk and dairy products in February. In addition, red meat, poultry, processed meat products and soft drinks were the other items that stood out with price increases.
While domestic producer prices increased by 1.56% in February, annual inflation decreased by 9.85 points to 76.61%. While annual inflation fell in all subcategories, energy prices fell by -4.47% on a monthly basis.
When monthly price developments are analyzed on the basis of sectors, the acceleration in electrical equipment prices came to the fore.
Source: AA / Prepared by Irem Yildiz