Established by a group of academics and announcing alternative inflation rates in Turkey using official data , the Inflation Research Group (ENAG) estimated Turkey’s monthly consumer inflation rate as 9.91% and the annual inflation rate as 58.65% in November 2021.
The official figures released also showed Turkey’s CPI inflation climbing to the highest in three years with 21.30% (3.51% monthly).
There is a huge gap between the ENAG estimation of 58.65% and 21.32% for the annual CPI inflation level in Turkey.
According to the ENAG, the highest monthly increase in prices was seen in the category of “recreation and culture” with 21.11%. The lowest monthly increase in prices was in communications (1.38%).
Commenting on the figures on his social media account, ENAG executive Prof. Veysel Ulusoy has said, “Policy rate was cut, inflation has increased. Inflation is approaching uncontrollable rates.”
While the wide gap between the figures announced by the state agency Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) and those of the ENAG is found striking, economists, journalists and opposition politicians have long been criticizing that the TurkStat figures do not reflect the truth.