Turks spooked as government's inflation efforts fall flat
Inflation has hit a new recent high of 25% in Turkey and the president's son-in-law and finance minister is struggling to convince the public his anti-inflation plan is getting anywhere.
ANKARA — The annual inflation rate has hit 25%, the Turkish Statistical Institute declared Monday. It was the first time since July 2003 that inflation had climbed so high, causing Turks to recall the turbulence of the 1990s and early 2000s when people bought eggs and cheese with banknotes denominated in millions of lira.
Finance Minister Berat Albayrak sought to reassure citizens by telling a pro-government TV channel that his recently announced campaign called “Total Struggle Against Inflation” was working.
“There has been an improvement in the price of raw materials,” he told A Haber. “In November and December inflation will fall,” he said.
But the son-in-law of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was quickly contradicted by the economists that other TV channels approached.
