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Turkey: Inflation at over 150 percent – ​​things could get tight for Erdogan

2022-05-17T12:15:44.802Z


Turkey: Inflation at over 150 percent – ​​things could get tight for Erdogan Created: 05/17/2022, 14:06 By: Lisa Mayerhofer Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has so far failed to curb runaway inflation in his country. (Archive image) © Adem Altan/afp Turkey is groaning under the galloping inflation. Dissatisfaction with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's controversial course is growing amon


Turkey: Inflation at over 150 percent – ​​things could get tight for Erdogan

Created: 05/17/2022, 14:06

By: Lisa Mayerhofer

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has so far failed to curb runaway inflation in his country.

(Archive image) © Adem Altan/afp

Turkey is groaning under the galloping inflation.

Dissatisfaction with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's controversial course is growing among the population.

Ankara – Inflation is rising in Germany.

Food and energy prices have been rising sharply for months.

Turkey, however, is even worse affected: In April, consumer prices there, which were already high, continued to skyrocket.

The inflation rate rose by 69.97 percent compared to the same period last year, according to figures from the statistics office.

This is the sharpest increase in consumer prices since February 2002. The inflation rate had already reached 61.14 percent in March.

Turkey: Inflation rate more than twice as high, according to researchers

According to independent Turkish economists from the Inflation Research Group (Enag, however, the inflation rate is even twice as high as officially stated. According to Enag, inflation has actually reached 156.86 percent year-on-year national statistics office Tüik to gloss over the extent of inflation.

The enormous rise in prices is being fueled significantly by the higher energy costs, which are also being pushed up by the fall in value of the Turkish lira.

The situation is aggravated by the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine;

Russia and Ukraine are important suppliers of energy and grain.

Turks suffer from high inflation - Erdogan makes promises

The high food prices burden the population.

People at a market in Istanbul speak to the

daily news

about price increases of up to 50 percent within a few weeks.

A man says that he keeps a close eye on price increases.

“I go to the market twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays.

And I always shop at the same stalls.

But even between Monday and Thursday the prices rise," he told the

Tagesschau

.

High consumer prices have become one of the most important issues in Turkish politics in recent months.

The central bank had not recently raised the key interest rate despite the galloping inflation.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a declared opponent of high interest rates, which economists unanimously regard as a means of combating high inflation rates.

However, he had pledged in January to bring inflation back into single digits “as soon as possible”.

He assured that inflation should fall again "after the month of May".

Turkey: Dissatisfaction with Erdogan is growing

It is questionable whether the President can keep his promise.

So far there are no signs of easing in terms of inflation in Turkey.

According to Tagesschau

, finance scientist Hakki Öztürk from the renowned Bahcesehir University said

: “Inflation can go up to 70 percent and then fall back a little.

In the best case, it will be around 45 to 50 percent by the end of the year – in the best case.”

The people in Turkey are increasingly dissatisfied with the development.

On May 1st there were demonstrations in some cities.

Erdogan's AKP party is also doing rather moderately in polls, as Die

Welt

reports.

Only around 25 percent of Turks would currently vote for the governing party – in the most recent elections in June 2018, it still reached 43 percent.

The next presidential election is scheduled for June 2023.

Six Turkish opposition parties have already joined forces for the election campaign against Erdogan and are demanding a return to "enhanced parliamentary democracy".

(lma/AFP)

Source: merkur

All news articles on 2022-05-17

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