ISTANBUL, July 4 Reuters Turkey39;s annual inflation rate jumped to a 24year high of 78.62 in June, data showed on Monday, just above forecast, driven by the impact of the Ukraine war, soaring commodity prices and a slide in the lira since a December crisis.

Inflation has surged since last autumn, when the lira slumped after the central bank gradually cut its policy rate by 500 basis points to 14, in an easing cycle sought by President Tayyip Erdogan to boost economic growth.

The latest figures showed consumer prices rose 4.95 in June, compared to a Reuters poll forecast of 5.38. Annually, consumer price inflation was forecast to be 78.35.

June consumer price inflation was driven by transportation prices, which surged 123.37, and food and nonalcoholic drinks prices, which jumped 93.93, data from the Turkish Statistical Institute TUIK showed.

It was the highest annual inflation reading since September 1998, when annual inflation hit 80.4 and Turkey was battling to end a decade of chronically high inflation. The lira was unchanged at 16.78 after the data.

Inflation has been further stoked this year by the economic fallout from Russia39;s invasion of Ukraine.

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Erdogan said last week he expects inflation to come down to appropriate levels by FebruaryMarch next year. The central bank, which kept the benchmark interest rate steady at 14 despite the rise, said inflation would drop to 42.8 by end2022.

Witold Bahrke, a senior macro strategist at Nordea Asset…