Inflation in Turkey reached 64.8% year-on-year in December, according to official data released today.

The increase in consumer prices, fueled mainly by the almost continuous devaluation of the Turkish lira, reached 2.9% over the month.

Inflation, which started to rise again in June, stood at 62% in November.

The rise in prices concerns food products (+72%), transport (+77.1%), health (+79.6%), education (+82%), as well as hotels and restaurants (+93.2%), according to the Turkish Institute of Statistics.

Although high, the official figures are disputed by independent economists at the Inflation Research Group (ENAG), who put the rise in consumer prices at 127.2%.

In this context, the minimum wage increased by 49% on January 1 to reach 17,000 Turkish lira, which is about 520 euros.

Despite regular wage and pension increases, inflation remains a burning issue in Turkey three months before municipal elections, which President Recep Tayyip Erdogan – who was re-elected in late May for a third term – wants to win in Ankara and Istanbul, the two largest cities of the country that spent 2019 in the hands of the opposition.

Turkey’s central bank, which has raised its key interest rate from 8.5% to 42.5% since June in an effort to rein in inflation, said in late December that monetary tightening was “approaching the level required to to begin the path towards deflation”.