CBRT household expectations survey sees inflation at 48.8% in 12 months
People are seen in the famous Eminönü neighborhood, Istanbul, Türkiye, Feb. 15, 2026. (AA Photo)


The Turkish central bank released the results of its first Household Expectations Survey on Tuesday, which aims to track households' views on inflation, currency and asset prices.

According to the survey, households' 12-month-ahead inflation expectation held steady at 48.81%, the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) said.

Use of the new data source shows 12-month-ahead inflation expectations in January and February measured 3.3 and 2.3 points lower than the consumer tendency survey.

Türkiye's annual inflation lastly eased to 30.7% in January. But a monthly spike of nearly 5% in consumer prices triggered market doubts about whether the course seen throughout 2025 is on track.

Officials have dismissed those doubts, saying there's no deterioration in the disinflation path but rather a slowdown mainly due to food prices and seasonal effects.

According to CBRT's survey, households said food and fuel/energy prices rose the most in the past year, and expect them to rise the most in the next 12 months.

Share of respondents citing food as the fastest rising category fell 0.2 points to 41.1% month-over-month.

The survey also showed that the expected increase in housing prices over 12 months fell 3.82 points to 35.41%.

A separate survey by the CBRT showed 12-month-ahead annual inflation expectations decreased by 0.1 points to 22.1% among market participants and by 0.9 points to 32% in the real sector.

Price increases are expected to remain lofty near 3% this month, and policymakers said a limited annual increase in headline inflation may be seen, with food prices again weighing.

But they expect the main trend to approach the lower November-December levels from March onward.

"While we maintain our policies to limit the reflection of temporary factors on pricing behavior, we continue to support the disinflation process with supply-side steps," Treasury and Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek said on the social media platform X on Tuesday.

The CBRT survey showed the Turkish lira to U.S. dollar exchange rate level expectation in 12-month-ahead declined 0.71 lira to 51.56.

Foreign exchange expectations below inflation projections imply households foresee a real appreciation of the lira.

According to the survey, preference for buying gold as an investment rose 2.7 points to 55.5%, while preference for buying property fell 1.2 points to 30% compared to the previous month.

In a blog on Tuesday, the central bank said it expects continued improvement in household inflation expectations as tight monetary policy and disinflation progress, narrowing the gap between expectations and actual inflation.