Turkey’s annual inflation rate rose slightly more than expected to 11.84 percent in December, official data showed on Friday, ending the year close to a government target and probably narrowing the window for more interest rate cuts in 2020, Reuters reported.
The Turkish government, which pushed the central bank for aggressive monetary easing last year to lift the economy from recession, had forecast 12 percent inflation at the end of 2019 and sees it edging down to 8.5 percent by the end of 2020.
Month-on-month, consumer inflation stood at 0.74 percent in December, again higher than the poll’s forecast of 0.49 percent.
Turkish inflation readings typically came in lower than expected last year, encouraging the central bank to slash its key policy rate to 12 percent by December from 24 percent in July.