Turkey's inflation rate hits new high

Turkey's inflation rate for July rose by 0.31 percent from the previous month, showed official data released Monday by the Turkish Statistical Institute. The inflation showed an 8.8 percent increase last month from the same period a year earlier, a new high of the year. The 12- month average inflation rate amounted to 7.47 percent as of July. The highest monthly increase was 2.28 percent in transportation, but the prices of alcoholic beverages and tobacco products increased most on an annual basis with a 15.99 percent hike. Analysts said that July would be the peak of the CPI this year. Turkey's inflation rate will tend to decline in the second half of the year. Turkey's Central Bank set the annual inflation forecast at 6.2 percent earlier in June.