The Turkish lira barely responded to the first drop in inflation in more than a year. Since the coronavirus pandemic, Turkey’s economy has been slammed by a currency crisis, a cost-of-living crisis, and a political crisis. But other economic metrics suggest that the GDP growth rate in Ankara could expand as long as prices ease and the currency stabilizes next year.

According to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TSI), the annual inflation rate eased to 84.39% in November, down from the 85.51% reading in October. This was also slightly below the market estimate of 84.65%.

On a monthly basis, the inflation rate rose 2.8%, down from 3.54% in the previous month and below economists’ expectations of 3%.

It has been the first time in 18 months that inflation was slowed, thanks to key sectors rising less, such as transportation (107%), housing and utilities (82.9%), apparel (37%), and leisure and hospitality (80.3%). But food and non-alcoholic beverages continued to spike to 102.6% last month.

Producer prices came down considerably in November, TSI data confirmed. The producer price index (PPI) eased to 136.02% year-over-year, down from 157.69%. The PPI rose just 0.74% month-over-month, down from 7.83% in October.

“As we have previously stated through various media, we have left the peak in inflation behind us and entered a downward trend — unless there is an unexpected global development,” Treasury and Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati tweeted on Monday.

If inflation continues to come down, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is widely expected to declare that his unorthodox economic doctrine of cutting interest rates amid rising inflation is a success.

Last month, the Turkish central bank cut interest rates by another 150 basis points, confirming that this would be the end of the easing cycle.

In other economic data, the third-quarter GDP growth rate fell by 0.1%, down from 1.9% in the previous quarter. On a year-over-year basis, the July-to-September GDP growth rate was 3.9%, down from 7.7% in the previous quarter.

Moreover, the Istanbul Chamber of Industry Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell further into contraction territory, coming in at 45.7 in November.

The Turkish lira continues to be one of the worst-performing currencies in 2022, plummeting 40% against the greenback.

The USD/TRY currency pair rose 0.03% to 18.6388, from an opening of 18.6331, at 15:45 GMT on Monday. The EUR/TRY fell 0.29% to 19.5868, from an opening of 19.6441.