Price increases in Türkiye eased further in January, official data showed Friday, providing relief to consumers who have been plagued by soaring costs for more than a year.
Annual inflation rate dropped to 57.7% in January compared to 64.3% in December, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) data showed.
It marks a third straight month of decrease and is down from the peak of 85.5% registered last October, a 24-year high.
The reading delivers a welcome boost for President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan heading into a presidential and parliamentary election, which is set for May 14.
Economists attribute the slowdown in part to a slide in the price of Türkiye’s energy imports. Natural gas prices have fallen back to early 2022 levels after soaring in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
The rate "will drop further this quarter, perhaps below 45% year-over-year in March, as the surge in prices following the 2021 currency crisis falls out of the annual price comparison," Capital Economics said in a report.