ISTANBUL: Sharp rises in food and drinks prices pushed Turkish inflation to a higher-than-expected 1.64 per cent in December, official data showed on Tuesday, triggering a slide in the lira towards record lows.
Growing worries on inflation have exacerbated worsening investor sentiment due to security concerns after a series of bomb and gun attacks, a slowdown in the economy and political uncertainty generated by plans for an executive presidency.
The month-on-month rise in the consumer price index (CPI) exceeded a Reuters poll forecast of a 0.93 per cent rise.
Year-on-year, the CPI climbed 8.53 per cent, the Turkish Statistics Institute said.
The lira weakened 1 per cent to 3.5800 against the dollar after the data, nearing the record low of 3.6 which it hit on December 2.
Prices in the most heavily weighted sector, food and non-alcoholic drinks, climbed 3.29 per cent in December while alcoholic drinks and tobacco prices surged 7.33 per cent month-on-month.
Data on Tuesday showed exports reviving at the end of 2016.
The head of the TIM exporters assembly, Mehmet Buyukeksi, said exports climbed 7.4 per cent in December to $12.82 billion but dropped 0.8 per cent in the year as a whole to $142.6 billion.
He told a news conference he expected exports to rise to $155 billion this year, adding that a recovery was expected in exports to Russia and that increased demand from oil exporting countries would help boost exports.
Core “I” CPI inflation was 7.48 per cent year-on-year, while producer prices climbed 2.98 per cent on the month for a year-on-year rise of 9.94 per cent, the statistics office said.
