Turkey inflation dips below 72%, begins expected slide
Disinflation has begun, says finance minister
Annual inflation seen falling to some 42% by year-end
Interest rates hiked by 4,150 pts in policy U-turn
Single-digit inflation unlikely before 2027, analyst says
Adds Simsek, analyst comments, market reaction
By Daren Butler
ISTANBUL, July 3 (Reuters) -Turkey's annual inflation rate began whatis expected to be a sustained fall in June, dipping more than expected to 71.60%, according toofficial data on Wednesday, while monthly inflation cooled markedly.
Officials and analysts predict a gradual slide in consumer price inflation in the remainder of 2024 after a year-long monetary policy tightening campaign, with economists forecasting it will reach 42.2% by year-end.
Monthly consumer price inflation was also below expectations at 1.64%, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute, compared with 3.37% in May. The annual measure is down from 75.45% in May, the highest since November 2022.
"The disinflation process has begun," Finance Minister Mehmet Simsek said on X afterward, adding that the implied trend was consistent with the government's year-end target.
He said disinflation would reflect successes achieved in financial stability, a sustainable current account deficit, foreign reserve accumulation and Turkey's exit from the FATF crime watchdog's "grey list" .
In a Reuters poll, economists had forecastthat annual inflation would fall to 72.6% in June.
Education, housing and restaurant prices sustained the inflationary pressure last month, the data showed, underscoring the lingering cost-of-living crisis that has gripped Turkey in recent years.
After the data, the lira TRYTOM=D3 was 0.1% weaker at 32.5680 against the dollar while the main Istanbul share index .XU100 was 1.1% higher.
"TIME AND DISCIPLINE" NEEDED
The central bank has hiked rates by 4,150 basis points to 50% since June last year. It was a dramatic reversal of years of loose policy advocated by President Tayyip Erdogan, despite rising prices, in order to boost growth.
Bartosz Sawicki, a market analyst at Conotoxia Fintech, said the data reassured the central bank that "inflationary pressures are finally starting to ease as the U-turn in policy stance begins to bear fruit."
"Nonetheless, further progress in eradicating the long-standing inflation problem remains in doubt," he said, with a return to single-digit inflation before 2027 "highly unlikely".
"Solving the inflation problem requires time and discipline. Decades of ultra-loose monetary policy and overly expansive fiscal policy led to profound macroeconomic imbalances."
Monthly inflation was particularly high in the first two months of 2024, mainly due to a big minimum wage hike and other priceupdates, before it started to ease.
After the latest rate hike in March, due to a deterioration in the inflation outlook,the central bankhas held steady and vowed to tighten further in the case of a significant deterioration in inflation, seeing an end-year rate of 38%.
The domestic producer price index was up 1.38% month-on-month in May for an annual rise of 50.09%, the data showed.
Writing by Daren Butler; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Anil D'Silva
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