Türkiye’s consumer price index (CPI) increased by 31.51% year-on-year in August 2026, while consumer prices rose 1.84% compared with the previous month, according to the latest official figures.

The CPI rose by 22.07% from December 2025 through August 2026 and increased by 31.79% based on the 12-month moving average.

The latest figures indicate that inflationary pressures remain significant, with transportation and housing costs among the main contributors to the annual increase in consumer prices.

Among the three main expenditure groups with the highest weights in the CPI, food and non-alcoholic beverages recorded an annual increase of 33.79%.

Transportation prices rose 35.08% annually, while housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels increased by 39.77% over the same period.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages made the largest contribution to the annual CPI increase, accounting for 8.12 percentage points. Transportation contributed 5.94 percentage points, while housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels contributed 5.01 percentage points.

On a monthly basis, however, food and non-alcoholic beverage prices increased by just 0.22% in August. Transportation recorded a significantly sharper monthly increase of 4.82%, while housing, water, electricity, gas and other fuels rose by 2.26%.

The monthly contributions of the three major expenditure groups were 0.06 percentage point for food, 0.82 percentage point for transportation and 0.27 percentage point for housing-related expenses.

The August data also showed that price increases remained widespread across consumer goods and services.

Of the 174 subclasses included at the five-digit level of the Classification of Individual Consumption by Purpose (COICOP), the index increased for 134 subclasses, while 35 subclasses recorded decreases. Prices remained unchanged in five subclasses.

The broad distribution of price increases indicates that inflationary pressures continued to affect a wide range of goods and services rather than being concentrated in only a few categories.

The CPI indicator with specified coverage, known as CPI-B, also recorded a substantial annual increase.

The index excluding unprocessed food, energy, alcoholic beverages, tobacco and gold rose by 1.84% month-on-month in August. It increased by 20.97% compared with December 2025, while recording an annual increase of 30.68%.

The 12-month moving average for this measure increased by 31.12%.

The figures suggest that underlying price pressures remained elevated despite the annual inflation rate staying below the levels recorded during the earlier stages of Türkiye’s inflation surge.

The August inflation data will be closely monitored by policymakers and markets as Türkiye continues its efforts to bring inflation down while managing persistent increases in transportation, housing and other essential household expenses. (ILKHA)