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ISTANBUL: Turkey has raised its year-end inflation forecast to 28.4 percent, Vice President Cevdet Yilmaz said on Sunday when he unveiled the country\u2019s medium-term economic programme for 2027-2029.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cWe expect inflation to start declining again in the fourth quarter of 2026 and to reach 28.4 percent by the end of the year,\u201d Yilmaz said in a televised address.<\/p>\n The new forecast is significantly higher than previous projections.<\/p>\n In last year\u2019s medium-term programme covering 2026-2028, the government had forecast year-end inflation at 16 percent.<\/p>\n Under the new programme, inflation is projected to fall to 21 percent in 2027, 13.5 percent in 2028 and nine percent in 2029.<\/p>\n Turkey\u2019s annual inflation rate eased to 31.51 percent in August from 31.75 percent in July, according to official data.<\/p>\n Yilmaz said the war in the Middle East had played a key role in the upward revision of the inflation outlook.<\/p>\n \u201cAccording to our central bank, the direct and indirect effects of the war on inflation have been estimated at approximately seven percentage points,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Annual inflation, which has remained above 30 percent since December 2021, peaked at more than 75 percent in May 2024 before beginning to slow.<\/p>\n Yilmaz said the government had made \u201csignificant progress in combating inflation\u201d, which remains the top priority of its economic programme.<\/p>\n \u201cInflation, which had risen to 75.5 percent in May 2024, has begun to show a clear downward trend as a result of the policies we have implemented,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n