By Tuba Sahin
ANKARA (AA) – The Turkish Central Bank on Wednesday forecasted Turkey's year-end inflation rate to reach 23.5 percent.
“We projected the inflation rate to converge gradually to the target under the assumption of a tight monetary policy stance and enhanced policy coordination focused on bringing inflation down, ” Central Bank Governor Murat Cetinkaya said in a news conference in Istanbul ahead of the release of the bank’s quarterly inflation report.
The bank also foresees year-end inflation for 2019 to reach 6.5 percent.
Cetinkaya said the inflation rate is expected to stabilize at the bank's medium-term target of 5 percent in the medium term after it drops to 9.3 percent by 2020's year-end.
He added the inflation rate would fluctuate between 21.9 percent and 25.1 percent through to the end of 2018.
The rise in the forecast has been driven by the upward revision in the projections of lira-denominated import prices, food inflation and inflation at third quarter in 2018, Cetinkaya noted.
According to Turkey's statistical authority on Oct. 3, the country's annual inflation reached 24.52 percent in September.
