Inflation Forecasts and Monetary Policy Statements from the President of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey, Fatih Karahan

The President of the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT), Fatih Karahan, stated, ‘We have revised our end-2024 inflation forecast by increasing it by 2 points to 38%. We have kept the 2025 and 2026 forecasts at 14% and 9% respectively. Our aim in the medium term is to achieve stability at 5% inflation,’ Karahan said. CBRT President Fatih Karahan made statements on various topics ranging from inflation and economic developments in the country and the world to monetary policy strategies at the ‘2024 Second Inflation Report’ briefing meeting held at the Central Bank Headquarters. Karahan emphasized that the main goal of the Central Bank is to ensure and maintain price stability, recalling that they have been making strong savings since June 2023. Karahan stated, ‘We closely monitor pricing behaviors and inflation expectations. We are determined to maintain our tight monetary policy stance until inflation falls to levels in line with our targets,’

Developments in Domestic Demand and Production

Pointing out the resilient trend in domestic demand in the first quarter of 2024, Karahan stated that the retail sales and trade sales volume indices, as well as card spending, indicated an acceleration in consumption in the first quarter. Karahan noted that card spending weakened in real terms in April, and the domestic order expectations of manufacturing industry firms for the future continued to decline on a quarterly basis.

Inflation and Monetary Policy

Assessing recent developments related to inflation and factors affecting inflation, Karahan stated, ‘In the recent three months, we see that inflation has followed a path higher than our forecasts. Indeed, consumer inflation completed the month of April at 69.8%, which is 0.9 points above the range we presented in the previous Inflation Report.’ Karahan conveyed this information.

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