ANKARA - Turkish consumer prices rose by 0.02 percent in February from the previous month and by 8.69 percent on an annual basis, the state statistics institute said Thursday.
Producer prices increased by 0.11 percent in February from January and by 10.58 percent over a year, the institute said.
Last year, Turkey reduced inflation to 9.32 percent, beating a year-end target of 12 percent set in an economic recovery programme backed by a 16-billion-dollar credit line from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released in the wake of two severe financial crises.
In December, Turkey and IMF officials reached agreement on a new three-year arrangement worth 10 billion dollars to bolster economic recovery.
Cutting inflation will also be central to a new programme that is expected to be approved by the Fund's executive board once Turkey passes a number of IMF-demanded reforms.
Under the new programme, Turkey is aiming to bring inflation down to eight percent in 2005, five percent in 2006 and four percent in 2007.
03/03/2005 15:37 GMT