Turkish inflation tops 85% driven by surge in food prices, energy costs

Turkish annual inflation accelerated for the 17th month in a row in October, driven by a surge in food prices and energy costs, to its likely peak during President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s two decades in power.
Consumer prices rose an annual 85.5% through last month, official data on Thursday showed, slightly lower than the median forecast in a Bloomberg survey. Monthly inflation was 3.54%, also slightly less than the estimate in a separate poll.

Economists think prices will cool down in the remaining months of the year because of what is known as the base effect. This references the sharp price surges toward the end of last year.

Enver Erkan, the chief economist of Istanbul-based Tera Investments, warned in an emailed note that inflation was broad-based, and there was no other indication of prices cooling down other than the base effect.