Turkey 's inflation continued to decline in March for the fifth month in a row, to 50.51 percent at an annual pace, official data showed Monday.

Consumer prices rose by 2.29 percent during the month.

Compared to the peak recorded in October when consumer prices rose by 85.5 percent, a level not seen since June 1998, this steady decline since November represents good news for President Recep Tayyip Erdogan six weeks before the presidential elections. scheduled for May 14, which he is running to win a new term.

In February, inflation slowed to 55.2 percent, an annual pace.

Experts justify the slowdown in inflation with the "base effect", pointing out that if prices continued to rise month after month, this rise was less severe than in the same period of the previous year.

But independent economists from the Inflation Research Group (Enag) are challenging the official figures. The group confirms that consumer prices rose by 112.51% year-on-year, and in March they reached 5.08%.

The Turkish economy , which is already going through a difficult period, is facing the consequences of the devastating earthquake that struck the south of the country on February 6, killing more than 50,000 people.

The World Bank estimated on Monday that the earthquake and aftershocks caused damage exceeding $34 billion, or 4 percent of Turkey's gross domestic product.

But the Turkish president estimated the total damage in his country at "about $104 billion."