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.
But President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has focused on growth ahead of a general election in June, has repeatedly railed against higher rates, calling them his “biggest enemy”.
The country’s central bank has followed his philosophy, lowering its policy rate to 12 percent from 13 percent last month.
Erdogan has called for more rate cuts at the bank’s next policy meeting on October 20.
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.—AFP
