Consumer prices in Turkey rose by 39 percent in 2000, and wholesale prices climbed by 32.7 percent, the state statistics institute announced on Wednesday. On a monthly basis, consumer prices rose by 2.5 percent in December from the figure for November and wholesale prices by 1.9 percent.
The annual figures constituted a significant drop in Turkey's chronic inflation that stood at 68.8 percent in 1999 and 69.7 percent in 1998. But the government failed to reach its year-end target of 25 percent for consumer prices and 20 percent for wholesale prices, outlined in a stand-by deal with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in December 1999.
The government has said that it will not revise its targets for 2001 ¯ 12 percent for consumer prices and 10 percent for wholesale prices ¯ and will instead implement tighter economic measures.
Ankara is implementing a comprehensive program of economic reforms under the three-year four billion dollar reform package agreed with the IMF following a severe financial crisis last month. — (AFP, Ankara)
© Agence France Presse 2001
© 2001 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
