January inflation report published by the Central Bank
According to the Central Bank’s Monthly Report on Price Evolution (CBRT), annual consumer inflation decreased in all subgroups, except services, in January, while energy made the most significant contribution to said drop with 3.99 points.
After the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) announced that the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 6.65% in December and annual inflation fell to 57.68%, the Evolution Report was also published of CBRT prices.
According to the report, annual inflation in the services group increased in January, while it decreased in other subgroups.
While the contribution to annual consumer inflation increased 1.71 points in January compared to the previous month, it decreased 3.99 points in energy, 1.96 points in food, 1.81 points in basic goods and 0.54 points in alcohol-tobacco.
When analyzed with seasonally adjusted data, the monthly increases in the B and C indices increased significantly in January. With these events, the annual variation rate decreased 0.63 points to 57.05% in the B index and increased 1.04 points to 52.97% in the C index.
INCREASE IN THE RENTAL GROUP
Services prices rose 12.7 percent in January, while the group’s annual inflation rose 6.93 points to 62.42 percent.
Although the monthly price increases were distributed throughout the group, annual inflation increased in all subgroups except transportation services. Prices in the group of restaurants and hotels, which were most affected by the minimum wage and food prices, increased 12.73 percent and annual inflation reached 75.13 percent.
Prices in the other services subgroup increased 16.1 percent monthly. In this development, the effects of maintenance-repair, health, revaluation and entertainment-culture services were felt.
The monthly increase in the income subgroup strengthened by 9.75 percent and annual inflation reached 57.07 percent.
Transportation services prices increased 10.23 percent, led by managed services, while annual inflation fell to 77.97 percent in this period. The monthly increase in prices of communication services was 8.14 percent. The annual inflation of this group amounted to 37.42 percent.
INCREASE IN CONSUMER DURABLE GOODS
Annual inflation for basic goods fell in all subcategories, most prominently in other basic goods. On a monthly basis, the increase in prices of durable consumer goods stood out.
With this development, the annual inflation of the group of basic goods decreased 4.14 points to 44.82 percent in January. Annual inflation decreased in all subgroups in January, more pronounced in other basic goods.
Prices of durable goods excluding gold increased 4.92 percent, while annual inflation in the subgroup decreased 2.11 percentage points to 46.02 percent. While the price increases spread across the subgroup, automobiles, furniture, and appliances were the items driving this development.
In other basic goods, prices rose 4.01 percent due to the slow effect of pharmaceutical prices at 17.96 percent, and annual inflation fell 9.05 points to 56.86 percent.
The prices of clothing and footwear decreased by 1.75 percent. With the seasonal effect stronger than last year, annual inflation decreased 1.69 points to 23.32 percent.
NATURAL GAS PRICES DROP
The monthly price increase in the energy group followed a relatively smooth course due to the drop in natural gas prices.
Thus, energy prices increased 1.59 percent in January and the group’s annual inflation decreased 39.40 points to 55.03 percent.
In January, the increases in the prices of network water continued with 10.23 percent. After the evolution of the international prices of oil, propane and butane, an increase of 4.24 percent was observed in fuel oil and 3.40 percent in bottled gas.
On the other hand, it was observed that the discount applied on natural gas in Istanbul was reflected in prices and prices decreased by 6.93 percent.
FOOD INFLATION ABOVE THE HISTORICAL AVERAGE
The prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages increased 6.62 percent per month, above the historical average for January of the last few years. The group’s annual inflation fell 6.87 points to 71 percent.
Annual inflation decreased 4.45 points to 68.80 percent in unprocessed foods and to 73.56 percent in processed foods, with a decrease of 8.44 points.
The seasonally adjusted data point to a drop in the prices of fresh fruit and vegetables, especially in the vegetable group.
Although the effect of the evolution of the prices of bread cereals, meat, milk and related products was evident in the increase in food prices in January, 3/4 of the monthly increase in food came from these items .
The prices of the group of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products increased 11.19 percent, and annual inflation fell 14.51 points to 50.6 percent. The automatic increase in taxes due to producer prices was the main factor pushing up the group’s prices.
MANUFACTURER PRICES
Despite the fall in energy prices, producer prices increased in January as a result of price increases observed in other sectors of the manufacturing industry.
With this development, domestic producer prices increased 4.15 percent in January, while annual inflation decreased 11.26 points to 86.46 percent.
As for the main industrial groups, energy prices decreased in January, while price increases in other subgroups became stronger.
For its part, annual inflation fell in all subcategories. When analyzing the monthly evolution of prices by sector, it is observed that beverages, coal and lignite, tobacco products, basic pharmaceutical products, furniture, food and those related to construction stand out. (AA)