Turkey's inflation hits new high in January

Turkey's inflation rate for January rose by 7.48 percent year-on-year, the highest level in six years, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) said on Monday. The rise, from the previous monthly rate of 7.40 percent, came as consumer prices in the country surged 1.72 percent, TurkStat said. The hike in January consumer price index was mainly attributed to higher prices for food, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and transportation service. Turkey revised its inflation forecast for 2014 to 6.6 percent, from 5.3 percent, at the end of January, citing the latest bout of exchange rate fluctuation. On January 29, Turkey's central bank raised its main interest rates in a dramatic move to cope with a weakening lira and rising inflation. The governor of the bank vowed to maintain tight monetary policy until the inflation outlook showed a clear improvement in the year. In recent years, Turkey has been suffering from a hovering inflation, which reached 7.49 percent in 2013, far above the government's initial goal of 6.2 percent.