Posted: Posted Has been updated:
Istanbul (AP) — The Turkish president has fired the head of the Turkish Institute of Statistics, which is responsible for posting official inflation statistics, among other data, when prices soared in Turkey.
The decision of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Tukish was announced on Saturday in the official bulletin. He was replaced by Sait Erdal Dincer less than a year after being appointed Vice President of the Turkish Banking Regulatory Authority, Erhan Cetinkaya. The reason for the move is not given.
Turkey experienced economic turmoil in its volatile home currency, triggered by a significant interest rate cut. Prime Minister Erdogan strongly opposes high interest rates, arguing that high interest rates cause inflation. This is a position that contradicts established economic theory. The central bank has cut interest rates by 500 basis points to 14% since September, but stopped lowering them in January.
Turkey relies heavily on imports for energy demand and consumer goods. It was officially announced that consumer price inflation in December would rise from 21.31% in November to 36.08%.
However, opposition has questioned the independence of the Turkish Institute of Statistics, and the data have been challenged. According to an independent expert from the Inflation Research Group (ENAG), Turkey’s actual annual inflation rate in December was 82.81%.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Erdogan acknowledged the effects of high inflation and accused the Turkish lira of “artificial fluctuations” in December. He said Turkey had taken precautions to stabilize the currency.
“You know we’re fighting interest rates. We’ve lowered interest rates and we’ve done so,” he told supporters in northern Giresun. “Know that inflation will go down, it will go down even more.”
This week, the Turkish central bank lowered its inflation forecast to 23.2% by the end of 2022 and 5% by the end of 2024. The Statistics Bureau will release the following inflation data on February 3rd.
Erdogan also announced that former Justice Minister Bekir Bozdag will return to his post as a replacement for Abdul Hammit Gull, who has been minister since 2017 but has resigned for no reason.
Turkish leaders appoint new statisticians as inflation rises | WGN Radio 720
Source link Turkish leaders appoint new statisticians as inflation rises | WGN Radio 720
The post Turkish leaders appoint new statisticians as inflation rises | WGN Radio 720 appeared first on Illinois News Today.
No comments:
Post a Comment