TURKISH CENTRAL BANK POINT AT LAST YEAR'S TAX CUTS FOR CAUSE OF APRIL'S HIKE IN INFLATION

ANKARA (A.A) - 04.05.2010 - Turkish Central Bank (CB) said the base effect created by last year's tax cuts have been effective in the hike in both Consumer and Producer prices indices in April.
A press release issued by CB Tuesday following the announcement of April inflation figures by TurkStat, said the inflation rates would resume a falling trend once the temporary effects (base effect) diminished.
TurkStat announced Monday the annual inflation in consumer prices for April as 10.19% and 10.42% in producer prices. According to figures the annual inflation rose 6.13 percent in consumer prices while it fell 0.35 percent in producer prices.
CB said the annual inflation in unprocessed food prices rose to 20.93% adding that the course of vegetable and meat prices have been effective in this. It said especially unprocessed meat prices rose 5.77% month-on-month pushing up the annual inflation for this item to 50.79.It said as a result the annual inflation in the food and non-alcoholic beverages group have been 11.76.
CB said the solid fuel prices rose in April, while the fuel oil and propane prices fell and a significant change in energy prices were observed.
It said however that the energy prices rose 1.49% in April due to the base effect and rose to 11.75%. It said the hike in energy prices due to the base effect was expected to continue in May.