Turkey inflation slows for first time since 2021

ISTANBUL, Dec 5, 2022 (AFP): Turkey's inflation slowed in November for the first time since May 2021, official data showed on Monday, delivering a boost to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan ahead of next year's election.

The rate slowed to 84.39 per cent, according to state statistics agency TUIK, down from 85.51 per cent in October.

Turkey's inflation has risen steadily since reaching a low of 16.6 per cent in May 2021.

The emerging market's troubled economy has turned into a major stumbling block on Erdogan's path to a third decade in power in a presidential poll due by next June.

Erdogan's approval rating began to suffer when he set off on an unusual economic experiment last year that tried to bring down chronically high consumer prices by lowering borrowing costs.

Conventional economic theory embraced by almost every other big nation pursues the exact opposite approach.

Turkey's lira began to drop in value almost immediately, as consumers rushed to buy up dollars and gold to try and protect their savings.