(Zaman) - Turkish Central Bank (CB) Governor Durmus Yilmaz said that single-digit inflation figures for the end of this year were reachable thanks to lower-than-expected August figures, reports Trend.
The CB head made his remarks on Thursday at a conference held by the Malatya Chamber of Commerce. Yilmaz said in his speech that the inflation figures were higher than expected in the first seven months of the year, especially due to the sharp fluctuations in financial markets experienced in April and May.
Yilmaz went on to say that August figures, which were lower than expected, could help reach single-digit figures, although the target for years-end has already been surpassed in 2006s first eight months. The CB governor, nevertheless, underlined that inflation targets for 2007 and 2008, are both 4 percent and still reachable.
The bank's target for the end of 2006 was 5 -percent inflation; however, it is almost impossible to reach since the actual year-on-year inflation has been double that level in recent months.
The Consumer prices index (CPI) slipped by 0.44 percent while the Producers prices index downed by 0.75 percent in August. The annual inflation rate for CPI now stands at 10.26 percent while the annual PPI stands at 12.32 percent.
The inflation figures for the first eight months of 2008 now stands at 5.30 percent for CPI and 11.80 percent for PPI.