ANKARA, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Turkish central bank on Wednesday sharply raised its 2018 year-end inflation forecast to 23.5 percent from an previous estimate of 13.4 percent.
The food inflation in Turkey is expected to hit 29.5 percent by the end of 2018, the bank's governor Murat Cetinkaya said at the quarterly inflation briefing conference.
Cetinkaya said the bank had raised its 2019 year-end inflation forecast to 15.2 percent from the 9.3 percent announced in a report in July.
Turkish central bank will maintain a monetary policy stance and focus on bringing inflation down, the governor added.
The Turkish lira has lost nearly a third of its value against U.S. dollar since the beginning of this year, fueling the country's inflation and economic risks.
According to a report released by Turkish Statistical Institute, Turkey's year-on-year inflation soared to nearly 25 percent in September, hitting a new record in the last 15 years.
