Turkey's Central Bank revises up inflation forecasts

ANKARA

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey has raised its inflation forecast for 2015 by 1 percent, governor Erdem Basci said on Wednesday.

The bank predicts that inflation for this year will be 7.9 percent at year-end, up from 6.9 percent in the previous forecast.

Inflation in 2016 is forecast to reach 6.5 percent for the year, up from 5.5 percent in the previous forecast.

Basci said that the bank's tight monetary policy stance would be maintained until there is sufficient improvement in the inflation outlook.

Basci spoke at a press conference for the release of the bank's Inflation Report 2015-IV, which detailed the forecast for inflation, and the bank's monetary policy.

"In the third quarter of 2015, annual consumer inflation posted a quarterly increase of around 0.75 points compared with the previous quarter and rose to 7.95 percent, remaining above projections of the July Inflation report. Food prices and exchange rate developments are the main drivers of this rise in annual inflation," the report said.

"The contribution of the rise in prices for unprocessed food increased in the quarter," it said.

ANKARA

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey has raised its inflation forecast for 2015 by 1 percent, governor Erdem Basci said on Wednesday.

The bank predicts that inflation for this year will be 7.9 percent at year-end, up from 6.9 percent in the previous forecast.

Inflation in 2016 is forecast to reach 6.5 percent for the year, up from 5.5 percent in the previous forecast.

Basci said that the bank's tight monetary policy stance would be maintained until there is sufficient improvement in the inflation outlook.

Basci spoke at a press conference for the release of the bank's Inflation Report 2015-IV, which detailed the forecast for inflation, and the bank's monetary policy.

"The contribution of the rise in prices for unprocessed food increased in the quarter," it said.