By Ed Frankl


Turkish inflation rose for the sixth month in a row in April, raising pressure on the country's central bank after it held rates steady last month.

The country's consumer-price index, a measure of domestic prices, increased by 69.8% compared with April last year, accelerating from a 68.5% annual rate in March, according to figures published Friday by statistics agency Turkstat.

Food, housing and transport inflation were all higher in April than in March, the data said. Core inflation, stripping out the more volatile effects of energy, food, tobacco and gold, rose above the headline rate to 72.7%.

The faster price rises will complicate the task for Turkey's central bank, which in late March held its key interest rate at 50%. The bank said last month that the underlying trend of monthly inflation was higher than expected.

High inflation has dogged the economy, contributing to the lira tumbling against the U.S. dollar in recent months and a sticking point for Turkish voters, who earlier this year handed the country's president Recep Tayyip Erdogan losses in local elections.


Write to Ed Frankl at edward.frankl@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

05-03-24 0339ET