Inflation

The consumer price index in December 2019 compared to November 2019 was 100.7%, i.e. the monthly inflation was 0.7%. The annual inflation in December 2019 compared to December 2018 was 3.8%, the National Statistical Institute (NSI) said in a press release.
The annual average inflation for January - December 2019 compared to the previous 12 months (January - December 2018) was 3.1%.

The annual inflation rate went up 4 percent in December 2019, from 3.8 percent in November, given that food prices increased by 5.08 percent and non-food prices by 3.31 percent, while the price of services registered an advance of 4.16 percent, according to data released on Tuesday by the National Institute of Statistics (INS). "In December 2019, consumer prices were 4.0 percent higher YoY.

Greece's annual EU-harmonised inflation rate accelerated in December, statistics service ELSTAT data showed on Monday.
The reading was 1.1 percent from 0.5 percent in November. The data also showed that headline consumer price inflation picked up to 0.8 percent from 0.2 percent in the previous month.

The Board of Directors of the National Bank of Romania (BNR) decided in Wednesday's meeting to maintain the monetary policy interest rate at 2.5 percent per year, according to a statement sent to AGERPRES.

Turkey will stabilize the inflation rate at single digits by improving competition in goods and services markets and enhancing production, the country's treasury and finance minister said Jan. 3.

"Fight against inflation will be our top agenda in 2020," Berat Albayrak said on Twitter, underlining the year-end inflation rate was below the government's target.

Turkey posted an 11.84 percent annual hike in consumer prices in December, the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK) announced on Jan. 3.

The annual inflation rose 1.28 percentage points last month, up from 10.56 percent in November.

December 2018 annual inflation rate was 20.30 percent, according to TÜİK.

Retail prices in Istanbul, Turkey's largest city, increased 1.07 percent in June from the previous month, data from the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO) have shown.

That followed a 0.45 percent increase in November.

The workforce crisis, the rise of inflation, the prospects for the national currency's depreciation and the expansion of the financial gridlock are seen as the major challenges to the business environment in 2020, found the 9th "Barometer on the state of the economy" conducted by consulting company Frames and released on Friday.

The Turkish banking sector will end 2019 better than expected, with a recovery in macroeconomic indicators such as growth, inflation, and unemployment, said the heads of both state and private banks.

Bank managers expect the sector to continue to support the economy in 2020.

The euro area annual inflation rate was 1.0% in November 2019, up from 0.7% in October. A year earlier, the rate was 1.9%. European Union annual inflation was 1.3% in November 2019, up from 1.1% in October. A year earlier, the rate was 2.0%. These figures are published by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.