Inflation in Turkey stood at 48.7 percent year-on-year in January, reaching the highest level since President Erdogan came to power in 2002. This is evident from the latest inflation figures from the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜIK). This is a large increase compared to December, when inflation stood at 36.1 percent.
But the question is who still believes TÜIK’s figures after Erdogan fired the director of the institute last weekend. According to reports in the Turkish media, this was because he thought the inflation figures were too high. It is the third time in more than two years that Erdogan has fired the director of TÜIİK.
Finance Minister Nureddin Nebati showed himself in an interview with the Asian weekly newspaper on Wednesday Nikkei Asia remarkably optimistic about the upcoming inflation figures: „I don’t think we will reach 50 percent [inflatie] shall see.” And so that didn’t happen. But many Turks do not believe the official figures and think that the real inflation is twice as high.
Strikes
Contributing to the high inflation in January, the government significantly increased prices for utilities such as gas, electricity, public transport and toll roads.
The monthly minimum wage was raised by 50 percent. Yet strikes have broken out at dozens of large companies in recent weeks. This week the deliverers of Yemeksepeti, the Turkish Thuisbezorgd.nl, went on strike. They demand a wage increase to compensate for the high inflation and the dramatic depreciation of the lira.
The lira depreciated 44 percent against the dollar last year. That’s partly due to Erdogan’s pressure on the central bank to cut interest rates, while inflation is already high and rising worldwide. The fall has hit Turks hard. Their purchasing power declined and the cost of energy and other imported goods and products rose, further pushing up inflation.
But ahead of the crucial 2023 parliamentary and presidential elections, when the Turkish republic turns 100, Erdogan is prioritizing high economic growth at all costs.