Turkey's annual inflation rate in January reached its highest level since April 2002, official data showed Thursday, after a currency crisis decimated people's purchasing power.

Consumer prices surged by a stronger-than-expected 48.7 percent from the same period in January last year, up from an annual rate of 36.1 percent in December, according to the Turkish statistics agency.

The reading came out just days after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan changed the head of the state statistics agency for the fourth time since 2019.

Former agency chief Erdal Dincer had only been in the job for 10 months. He was replaced by Erhan Cetinkaya, who was vice-chair of Turkey's banking regulator.

(With input from AFP)