ANKARA - A Turkish regulation lowering patient copayments at public hospitals has prompted some analysts to trim their February inflation expectations, according to interviews and research notes.

A decision published in the Official Gazette at the weekend cut the copayment amount for state and university hospitals, partly reversing a move in January that raised the payments and lifted annual inflation by more than 0.5 points that month.

Economists earlier said they had expected the effects to remain in February and March. But the latest move has generally lowered the total effect by 0.4-0.8 points from the previous estimate, they said.

Monthly inflation estimates for February have as a result fallen to below 3%, from close to 4% earlier, they said.

Bank QNB now expects a 3% monthly consumer price rise, from 3.6% earlier. Ibrahim Unalmis of Bahcesehir University said he cut his estimate by nearly 1 percentage point to between 2.9% and 3.1%.

In January, monthly inflation climbed more than expected to 5.03% due to a minimum wage hike and several new-year price updates, while annual inflation fell to 42.12%.

(Reporting by Nevzat Devranoglu; Writing by Jonathan Spicer; Editing by Daren Butler)