Currency instability in Turkey is not about to end. Turkish lira is tumbling and the country is sinking deeper into crisis every day. Traders and entrepreneurs, usually quite discreet, are now stepping aside and openly criticizing President Erdogan’s monetary choices.
As he looks at his notebook, Can, who runs a farm produce business, loses hope. For the past few weeks, it has been impossible to predict your cash flow.
“We have to calculate gasoline, labor, packaging, insurance… These days we do these calculations every morning and every evening. For entrepreneurs bringing in products from overseas, more and more Turkish lira have to be put on the table against the euro or the dollar.
“Before, we adjusted our prices twice a year. Now it’s more like twice a week. Look: last year we sold a kilo of rice for 17 Turkish lira. Today it’s 34 pounds! it has increased by 100%. “
Price tags change weekly
In everyday life, pictures of supermarkets changing their price tags every week are plentiful on social media. And the video of a farmer throwing away his tomato production, reacting to the pound’s total fall arguing it was no longer worth anything, shot a lot.
Even members of Tusiad, an association which claims 85% of Turkey’s exporting companies, are fed up with the currency’s volatility. They denounce monetary choices that pull the country down.
Even though President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday evening announced a host of measures aimed at stemming the currency’s fall, leading to its sudden rebound, many do not believe it. And the currency’s instability is making them more worried than ever.
Currency instability in Turkey benefits tourists
Difficult to see clearly with the exchange rate of the Turkish lira. It peaked until the beginning of the week, before dropping down suddenly. A yoyo movement which does not reassure investors, but which makes tourists happy to visit Turkey. In recent months, they have seen their purchasing power soar.
It’s hard to miss Thomas. He just had hair implants and his scalp is still red. This tourist has been preparing his trip to Turkey for a few months. And when he saw the exchange rate, which hit record highs earlier this week, he was surprised himself.
“In the two weeks that I have been here, the price of an Australian dollar has fluctuated between 9 and 15 pounds! he rejoices. But of course it was a good surprise to see that my purchasing power was so high! “
He has something to smile about! Like him, tourists have seen their purchasing power swell in recent weeks in Turkey, facing a Turkish lira which kept falling.
Conditions which lead more and more foreigners to invest in stone. Serkan Kavuk, real estate agent, has also noticed.
“Over the past three months, a lot of foreign buyers have called on us,” he explains. But homeowners are raising their prices, too, based on the dollar. An apartment that sold for one million Turkish liras five months ago is now worth two million. We’re changing our price lists every day right now! “
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