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Türkiye's annual inflation rate fell to 30.87% in March 2026, its lowest level in four years, continuing a steady disinflation trend that has seen the headline rate more than halve from 68.5% in March 2024.
Though monthly price increases and the Iran war's upward pressure on energy costs remain risks to the trajectory.
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 1.94% on a monthly basis in March 2026, according to official data published by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) on Friday. This compares with monthly increases of 2.46% in March 2025 and 3.16% in March 2024.
The 12-month moving average stood at 32.82%, down from 51.26% a year ago. The rate of change from December of the previous year reached 10.04%.
The three main expenditure groups with the highest weight drove annual inflation.
Housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels rose 42.06% annually, contributing 6.04% points to the overall index. Food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 32.36%, contributing 8.25% points. Transportation increased 34.35%, contributing 5.45% points.
Education recorded the highest annual increase among all categories at 51.97%, followed by housing at 42.06% and transport at 34.35%.
Clothing and footwear posted the lowest annual increase at 7.2%.
On a monthly basis, transport costs rose 4.52%, the sharpest increase among major categories, contributing 0.75% points to the overall 1.94% monthly figure. This reflects the growing impact of rising global energy prices driven by the Iran war and the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
Alcoholic beverages and tobacco rose 4.36% monthly, while recreation and culture increased 3.8%. Clothing and footwear were the only major categories to record a monthly decline, falling 2.1%.
Food and non-alcoholic beverages rose 1.80% monthly, contributing 0.46% points. Housing increased 1.91% monthly, contributing 0.22% points.
Core inflation, measured as CPI excluding unprocessed food, energy, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and gold (Group B), rose 30.11% annually and 1.45% monthly. CPI excluding administered and directed prices rose 30.12% annually and 1.67% monthly.
Of the 174 subclasses tracked, 127 recorded price increases in March, 40 recorded decreases and seven remained unchanged.
The next CPI release is scheduled for May 4, 2026.
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