Galloping inflation in Türkiye

Rising prices are reaching such high levels in the country that many people are living on credit. Even everyday products are becoming luxury goods, as demonstrated by French people in Istanbul.

The official figures are dizzying and they appear to be below reality. The Turkish authorities announce inflation of 67% over one year but, according to independent economists, the price increase would reach almost double: 127%. As a result of this waltz of labels in stores, Turks are juggling, more than ever, several credit cards.

Thibaud Sevin has lived in Türkiye for 14 years. Originally from Fontainebleau, this Frenchman works in IT in Istanbul. His wife, Turkish, is employed in a law firm. “Turks have several bank cards with credit possibilities on eachhe details, and move money from one bank to another to fill in the gaps, allowing them to always live on credit.” In recent months, recovery files and disputes with banks have multiplied.

Marie-Rose Koro has lived in Istanbul for almost 20 years. Raised in Alsace, former coach, she is now retired and locally elected, advisor to French people abroad for Turkey. She notes that the surge in prices mainly concerns food products and affects the poorest households but also the Turkish middle classes, i.e. the majority of the population: “Almost no one can afford to regularly eat meat or fresh fruit and vegetables anymore. Prices are soaring, people are falling back on basic products like bread or rice, which is creating a food problem in certain regions of the country.

Inflationary spiral

To try to stop this inflationary spiral, the Turkish government announced a doubling of the minimum wage. But this is not enough, especially in the face of skyrocketing property prices. “Even the director of the Central Bank, who came from the United States and works at the World Bank, has not found a rent with the compensation that Turkey pays her for her positionnotes Marie-Rose Koro. She went back to live with her parents!” Some rents have even increased tenfold since post-Covid in Istanbul.

Thibaud Sevin affirms, for his part, that the rise in prices is not felt that much on a daily basis: “Yes, there was very high inflation at the end of the year, during the back-to-school period. Since then, prices sometimes increase a little, sometimes they are falling. Inflation is neither constant nor increasing .” Istanbul town hall has opened a website on which the richest residents can come and pay the unpaid bills of indebted families.

To go further: the French Circle, the association of Marie-Rose Koro, in Istanbul, for the dissemination of the French language and the Francophonie.

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