Erdogan is also making it worse since he controls economic policy.
This guy's rent is 2000 lira and his monthly take home is 2900 lira. Good God.
Turkish central bank cuts rates, sending lira to record low
Inflation in the country of 84 million is now at more than 21% and has climbed steadily as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has refused to raise rates.
www.cnbc.com
Many Turks Can’t Afford Bread, and Bakers Can’t Afford to Make It (Published 2021)
Squeezed by rising costs, price controls and plunging sales, bakers warn of ruin, while their impoverished former customers line up for government-supplied loaves.
www.nytimes.com
ISTANBUL — A line of glum-faced people wrapped up against the rain stood along the street outside a government bread bank in a suburb of Istanbul.
"People cannot manage," said Sengul Essen, 57. "I worked 21 years as a cleaner at the university and now I am waiting in a bread queue."
Turks are grappling with soaring inflation, watching prices rise daily as the lira has plunged against the dollar and their salaries and pensions no longer cover even the staples of life. Bread lines have started to appear in neighborhoods as growing numbers of people are turning to cheap, government-issued bread to fill their tables.
On a cold, wet afternoon this week, the mood in the bread line was bleak. Most people did not want to be interviewed for fear of getting into trouble for criticizing the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, which frequently detains his critics. Those who spoke declined to give their names.
But as a conversation started, the grumbling grew.
An electrician stood listening. "People are in pain," he said. He said he earned 2,900 lira per month (about $207 at current rates), and his rent had just gone up to 2,000 lira. His wife was buying less of everything in her weekly shopping, he said. "I cannot make ends meet."
Food prices have soared worldwide during the pandemic, driven by supply chain disruptions, higher fuel costs, global shortages of fertilizer and other factors. But the plummeting value of Turkey's currency, down about 50 percent since February against the euro and dollar, makes the problem especially painful here.
This guy's rent is 2000 lira and his monthly take home is 2900 lira. Good God.