Researchers suspect a higher rate
Turkey reports price increase of 70 percent
5/5/2022, 4:17 p.m
The cost of living in Turkey has risen by more than two thirds within a year. At least that’s what the statistics office says. According to independent economists, the rate is significantly higher. So far, President Erdogan has responded with reassurances. Elections are in a year.
In Turkey, already high consumer prices continued to soar in April. The inflation rate rose to 69.97 percent compared to the same month last year, according to figures from the statistics office. This is the sharpest rise in consumer prices since February 2002. According to the additional data, prices rose 7.3 percent month-on-month after rising 5.5 percent in March. The annual inflation rate had already reached 61.14 percent in March.
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 for Turkey for importing energy sources and grain, respectively. The transport sector saw the largest year-on-year increase, followed by food & non-alcoholic beverages and home furnishings & appliances, according to TURKSTAT (Turkish: TÜİK) data.
High consumer prices have become one of the most important issues in Turkish politics in recent months. Despite rampant inflation in the country, the central bank had recently left the key interest rate unchanged. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is a declared opponent of high interest rates, which are usually seen as an effective means of combating inflation.
Experts suspect that the rate will be twice as high
A good year before the presidential elections planned for June 2023, critics from the ranks of the opposition and some economists accuse the national statistics office TÜİK of glossing over the extent of inflation. Independent Turkish economists from the Inflation Research Group (ENAG) said year-on-year inflation had actually reached 156.86 percent – more than double the official rate.
Erdogan promised in January to bring inflation back into the single digits “as soon as possible”. Last week he assured that “after the month of May” the rate will start to slow down.
Since the beginning of 2017, Turkey has experienced double-digit inflation rates almost continuously. But inflation has never been this high since Erdogan’s conservative Islamic party, the AKP, came to power at the end of 2002.