Balkans: August 5, 2000

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: The Turkish government announced that consumer prices jumped 56.2 percent in the last year (July 1999 to July 2000). The same report said the annual inflation rate is 58 percent. Turkey has been pursuing a series of IMF-directed reforms intended to cut its inflation rate - and ultimately make Turkey a candidate for full entry into the EEC. Turkey's inflation target is still a long way away: a 20 to 25 percent rate by the end of 2000, a ten percent rate by the end of 2001. If you think 58 percent looks bad, the annual inflation rate in 1999 was 68.8 percent and in 1998 was 69.7 percent.