Inflation in Turkey jumped to a 24-year high one week after the Central Bank cut interest rates again inflation now stands at 83 according to the state statistics agency however an independent inflation research group claims that the actual rate stands at a whopping 186 percent we start today’s program in
Turkey where a lot of people are currently facing a difficult time because of surging prices the new year begins with long queues for bread which is at least still affordable fruit meat and fish have become luxury goods for many Turks vendors are stuck with their perishable products their customers are
Forced to budget their lira’s tightly the currency is rapidly losing its value it’s a cause of anger for many in Turkey prices are high we’re really struggling we have two children who go to school we are only earning minimum wage and it’s hard to make a living
I’m 19 years old and I’m not hopeful I don’t think the situation here in Turkey will improve I don’t see a future here I actually want to go abroad this is true for most of us I don’t think inflation is around 80 it’s much higher I don’t know whether
The official figures are true or not but the inflation I feel is much more that’s why it’s getting harder and harder to live Turkey’s economy is in tatters Runway inflation and a collapsing Lira have pushed millions of Turks to the brink of financial ruin and slammed factories farmers and retailers across the country
More than two-thirds of people in Turkey are struggling to pay for food and cover their rent fueling a surge in mental illness and debt but it wasn’t always this way the Turkish economy has come on Leaps and Bounds over the last two decades averaging 5.8 percent yearly GDP
Growth between 2002 and 2021 so what went wrong annual inflation is around its highest level in decades devaluing salaries and devouring savings less than a year before President recep Taya perdigan runs for re-election Strategies how people are trying actually those who have to survive I less consume less obsessively compare prices they are working a second or third job they don’t travel they don’t go to restaurants anymore many people tell me they are making depths and many young people tell me their only plan is
To somehow leave turkey and try to live abroad so this crisis has really hit the Turkish middle class and the poor of course and that’s devastating in surveys more than half of the population say they can barely afford their daily groceries almost three quarters of Turks are in debt and almost
Everyone complains about a drop in income these figures show how desperate the situation is is of President recipes who has insisted on lowering interest rates in defiance of we have entered a downward Trend in inflation leaving the peak behind unless there is an unexpected Global development turkey’s Finance Minister
The red in the body wrote on Twitter the blow of rising prices has fallen particularly hard on the poor and the middle class more than half of working Turks around the minimum wage which is worth less than three hundred dollars a month because of the Turkish lira’s vast
Evaluation against the dollar as the Lira has sunk people have watched their salaries lose purchasing power and the value of their savings evaporate as much as what’s going on with imports and exports in Turkey ultimately down to president erdogan’s unconventional approach to monetary policy well it’s I think important to mention
Again that to a certain extent we observe of course globally Rising import volume due to increasing uh oil and gas prices um that is out of control of course of any government but on the other hand it is the monetary but also the whole Economic Policy of the Turkish
Government that is also responsible for the widening of the trade deficit so over the last two years we have observed this wrong policy that made the Turkish lira the weakest currency in the world and normally under such conditions we would observe that Imports are dropping and uh exports become competitive and
Should rise but that doesn’t happen in Turkey because of these wrong unpredictable and uncertain economic policy it is prohibiting investors to enter the country and as a result turkey is not able to capitalize this weak Lira and to increase exports turkey’s crisis has been years in the making as
Political turmoil and what critics call Mr erdogan slide toward authoritarianism have made the country less attractive for many investors turkey has a substantial trade deficit and significant foreign debt and the government has tapped its foreign currency reserves to try to slow the collapse of the currency the coronavirus
Pandemic cut deeply into tourism income and upheaval in global markets exacerbated by Russia’s war in Ukraine made inflation a threat to economies around the globe but while other countries raised interest rates to keep prices in check Mr erdogan has repeatedly cut them last month the international monetary fund recommended
That turkey raise the interest rate to counter inflation and Grant more Independence to its Central Bank which is widely seen as doing Mr erdogan’s bidding but in late November the Central Bank lowered rates yet again to nine percent the most recent of a series of cuts that have brought the rate down
From 14 in August and speech teaches and interviews Mr erdogan has described low interest rates as part of a plan to Foster economic growth by stimulating manufacturing and making Turkish products more attractive for export he has blamed the country’s economic woes on unspecified foreign forces while suggesting that Turkish families are in
Fact better off than people in wealthier countries Mr erdogan has tried to play Down inflation saying it is not a crippling economic threat and vowing that the government would take action against exorbitant price increases but in the U.S inflation has fallen to under eight percent annually after interest
Rate increases while yearly inflation in Turkey is more than 10 times that rate to soften the blow Mr erdogan’s government has increased the minimum wage twice since January funded accounts to protect Savings in local currency from devaluation launched a multi-billion dollar housing subsidy program and backed other projects to
Help the poor the economy has continued to grow expanding by 11 in 2021 suggesting a recovery from the pandemic economists expect more modest growth of around 5 percent this year well this number Stephen comes from turkey’s state statistics agency as you mentioned and it’s already an eye-popping figure but what’s striking
Is many Turks no longer believe the official data they think inflation is much higher so do opposition politicians and economists who have started to openly question the reliability of the government’s figures on inflation today a well-known independent research group announced that turkey’s annual inflation in fact Rose to more than 175 percent
And most of that anger is directed at him Turkish president erdogan many blame him for the DraStic plunge of the Lira we have problems paying our rents our bills and accessing healthy quality food we’re going through a huge economic crisis that shakes all of us I have two children
The cheese I used to put between their school sandwiches was 20 liras last year now it’s 84 liras and I’ve had to start buying cheaper brands those are getting more expensive who earn minimum wage stood their rents and make a living they can’t the situation has become so
Painful for many of us people are at their limits one is running for re-election but his popularity ratings have suffered greatly because of this economic crisis so this might be an attempt to calm people down but many people also tell me they no longer believe that president erdogan is the
Man who can solve this crisis but the spiraling prices for many Turkish families threatened to tarnish the legacy of Mr erdogan who was lauded during much of his two decades in power for overseeing vast economic growth that moved millions of Turks from poverty toward more comfortable middle-class
Lifestyles many of those people now see those gains slipping away which has damaged Mr erdogan’s political standing to such an extent that a number of polls now suggest that he could lose next year’s election a new Coalition of opposition parties challenging Mr erdogan has yet to choose a candidate
And could struggle to remain unified Mr erdogan has a long history as a deaf political Survivor and now sits at the top of a system that gives him tremendous power to make moves that could help him win votes he can also count on a vast party infrastructure and
A core base of loyal voters who will stick by him regardless of the economy Thank you
