Think we have inflation? Turkey’s new print is 79.6%

[Markola]

And that’s just the suspect official number. Actual inflation might be 200% or more. President Erdogan’s solution? Print like crazy by LOWERING interest rates to encourage exports.

This is not tiny Sri Lanka, where inflation and debt caused the government to collapse last month. Turkey is a NATO and a founding G20 country, now 23rd in GDP. Turkey seems to be a macro concern to watch and an interesting case study for unconventional economic policy.


https://www.aljazeera.com/economy/2...umped-to-24-year-high-of-79-6-percent-in-july

 

[Mr._Graybeard]

Turkey is a fascinating country. I visited there in 1980, when the Turkish lira (and the rest of the world's currencies) were locked in an inflationary spiral because of the 1970s oil shocks. At that time the lira was worth 1 US cent. It trades at about a nickel now, according to Finance Minister Google.

Turkey imports nearly all the petroleum it consumes, so its economy is particularly sensitive to price fluctuations -- not that the country's leadership hasn't made some bonehead moves. It's situation overall is along the lines of many other countries in the world that have fewer resources and less responsive governments than we have.

Fortunately, the price of crude is well off its peak, trading at less than $90/bbl in New York this morning. Maybe that will start to bring some relief.

 

[GenXguy]

Actual inflation feels a lot higher here in the U.S. also than the official figures, although not 200%!

 

[Koolau]

Actual inflation feels a lot higher here in the U.S. also than the official figures, although not 200%!

Yeah, I know we've had this discussion before but I agree that the official numbers do not accurately represent my experience.

 

[Surewhitey]

Longer term, they're hurting big time. We were there in 2015 & got ~2 lira/usd. Pretty crazy for 7 years time...and #18 in world's population...

 

[jebmke]

Argentina has had some bad runs with inflation. In the early 2000s we used to establish our contracts with customers in Argentina to set the final price based on the exchange rate back to US dollars when they paid their invoices. The price at shipment and the price at delivery were provisional. Much chaos ensued with legal folks in BA.

 

[ncbill]

Turkey needs another Kamil Ataturk to replace the current Islamist toady.

 

[MrSmee]

Was just there for a few weeks. I love that country. Food, people, history, landscape and weather. Dirt cheap to visit though a lot of tourist related costs are listed in Euros.