ANKARA (Parliament Politics Magazine) – The most recent official statistics show prices in Turkey to be soaring at their quickest rate in 24 years.
The annual rate of inflation, or the rate at which prices increase, was somewhat higher than anticipated in June, coming in at 78.62 percent.
The Ukraine war contributed to some of the sharpest price increases in housing and transportation.
Since the country’s president lowered interest rates in an effort to support the economy last year, inflation has soared.
Typically, nations would raise interest rates in an effort to reduce inflation. However, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has called interest rates “the mother and father of all evil” and has employed more unconventional tactics to try to lower costs, including interfering in the foreign exchange markets.Â
The value of the Turkish currency, lira, has decreased as a result of the reduction in interest rates last year from 19 percent to 14 percent, making it more expensive for the nation to buy products from foreign nations.
The most recent inflation numbers show the transportation cost to have seen the biggest rise in prices, 123 percent over the previous year.
Non-alcoholic beverages and food followed closely behind with price increases of 94%, while the price of furniture and household goods increased by 81 %.
Since September of 1998, when annual inflation had reached 80.4 percent and Turkey was trying to end a decade of chronically high inflation, the total inflation rate has been at its highest level.
The high rates of inflation are proving to be very challenging for businesses.
The general manager of Kemer Holiday Club in Antalya, Volkan Yorulmaz, commented he had never witnessed a season like that before. Because prices fluctuate everyday, he was unable to set up a budget for his expenditures. The idea of inclusion no longer seemed viable.
He continued, without them, the start of the season was a little challenging because more than half of their visitors were from Ukraine or Russia.
People in Turkey were trying to visit for vacation. To make it more reasonable for them, they were using credit cards, or paying in instalments, or cutting their scheduled vacations short, he added.
