Economic crisis, the destroyer of the Turkish middle class

According to the international group Tasnim news agency, the continuation of Turkey’s economic crisis and The melting of the national currency of this country, the lira, against the dollar, makes the situation more difficult for the citizens day by day.

The latest statistics show that the increase in prices is accompanied by inflation. Increasingly, it has caused the purchasing power of Turkish citizens to decrease significantly.

The official report of the Union of Turkish Trade Unions known as Türk-İş data related to the poverty and hunger line in January shared and showed that the hunger line has reached a terrible level and a family of four living in Ankara has to pay 15 thousand 89 liras for food. Meanwhile, this cost was 14,431 lira until just one month ago.

Increasing the minimum cost that a family of four living in Ankara must pay for food. slow, was 4.27% from the previous month, while the 12-month rate of change was 69.76%. The price of a 200-gram loaf of bread in Ankara has been set at 8 liras, and thus the monthly cost of bread for a family of 4 has increased by 105 liras compared to a month ago.

Total related expenses Other monthly expenses for clothing, housing (rent, electricity, water, fuel), transportation, education, health and similar needs reach a staggering figure of 49 thousand liras.

Turkish economic analysts have defined the amount of 49,000 lira as the poverty line, while the salary floor of millions of Turkish workers is only 17,000 lira!

This is where the experts They warn the government officials and say: All the people of Turkey are becoming poor and only a small minority of the upper population lives in luxury. This situation has started exactly in 2021 and economists believe that in the last 3 years, the unprecedented type of inflation and the skyrocketing costs have practically destroyed the middle class of Turkey.

Dangerous game with monetary and fiscal policy

Now, Turkey is a clear example of inflation Gallup is experiencing and millions of citizens are struggling to buy food. Turkish economic analysts say that this situation is unprecedented in their country and one of the main reasons for the crisis is the government’s work and the ineffectiveness of Erdogan’s policies. Turkish celebrity says: “Inflation in Turkey has reached the point where the middle class is disappearing!” The main reason for the continuous deterioration of the Turkish economy and the imbalance in income distribution was the policy of lowering the bank interest rate, which lasted from September 2021 to the middle of 2023 and left many losses.

Yilmez that once upon a time Deputy Minister of Treasury of Turkey Bode says: “The huge jump in inflation in Turkey was caused by the wrong and unbalanced policy of income distribution, which distorted all the income ratios of the people.” Unfortunately, my prediction indicates that the deterioration of the situation will continue in 2024. Income distribution in Turkey is still rapidly deteriorating. In our analysis, we use two measures to measure the equality and inequality of personal income distribution: the first is the Gini coefficient, which varies between zero and one, and shows that equality increases as it approaches zero, and inequality as it approaches becomes increases to one. The Gini coefficient, which was equal to 0.415 in 2021, increased to 0.433 in 2022. Accordingly, income distribution worsened in 2022 compared to 2021. Our second measure is the P80/P20 ratio, which shows the difference between the income earned by the 20 percent of the population group with the highest income share and the income earned by the 20 percent of the population group with the lowest income share. The P80/P20 ratio increased even more in 2022 than in 2021 (the difference increased from 8 times to 8.44 times). In other words, it seems that the difference between those who earn the most and those who earn the least has widened, creating a strange and incredible gap. In 2022, the largest increase was in a small population group of 15.7%, which had the highest income”. GDP) of Turkey, only 20% of the highest income group of the country’s population of 85 million people, and the rest (80% of the total population) receive 50.3% of the total income. This distribution is deteriorating year by year and the richest part of the society is getting richer day by day. /Tasnim/Uploaded/Image/1402/07/07/1402070716474747128449424.jpg”/>

Unprecedented increase in inequality and class gap in Turkey has caused that in metropolises like Istanbul, Ankara , Izmir and Antalya, many families go to the far towns and outskirts of the cities and this phenomenon also has certain social and cultural consequences.

The Justice and Development Party which He took power in 2002, and has repeatedly emphasized slogans such as trying to create the highest level of equality, justice in the distribution of resources, and the fight against financial corruption. But now and in the situation that the mentioned party has ruled Turkey for 22 years, the initial slogans seem to have lost color in the field of action.

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