Turkey's inflation hit an 11-month high as prices increased 8.10 percent in November compared to the same month of the previous year, while the monthly increase exceeded expectations at 0.67 percent, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) on Thursday. Prices have increased by 8.58 percent since last December, and have increased by 7.61 percent on a 12-month moving average basis.
The highest monthly price increase was in the clothing and footwear category with 5.37 percent, followed by the food and non-alcoholic beverages category with 1 percent, furnishings and household equipment with 0.66 percent, housing with 0.54 percent and communications with 0.35 percent.
The highest monthly price decrease was in the transportation category with 0.78 percent, followed by recreation and culture with 0.54 percent and miscellaneous goods and services with 0.28 percent.
The highest annual price increase was in the hotels, cafes and restaurants category with 13.44 percent, followed by recreation and culture with 11.74 percent, miscellaneous goods and services with 11.37 percent, furnishings and household equipment with 10.50 percent and food and non-alcoholic beverages with 9.51 percent.
Geographically speaking, the highest annual increase in prices occurred in the western provinces of Aydın, Denizli and Muğla with 9 percent. Prices increased 1.61 percent in the southern provinces of Gaziantep, Adıyaman and Kilis, which also host the most number of Syrian refugees living in Turkey. The northwestern Balıkesir and Çanakkale provinces saw the highest price increases of 9.45 percent since December. On a 12-month moving averages basis, western İzmir experienced the highest price increases with 8.20 percent.
Regarding the average prices of 426 items listed on the TurkStat index, the average prices of 49 items remained unchanged in November, while the average prices of 289 items increased and the average prices of 88 items decreased.
