“We should eat half a kilo of meat a month instead of one or two,” said Zulfy Demirbag, an MP from the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) in Elazat district in eastern Turkey, in a video message to the electorate. .
Demirbag is not the only one advising austerity to Turks, oppressed by high inflation, rising unemployment and the devaluation of the pound.
Energy and Natural Resources Minister Fatih Dönmez called on households to reduce heating earlier this month in response to rising natural gas prices.
In June, Turkish First Lady Emine Erdogan urged citizens to reduce meat portions and avoid excessive spending to combat wasted spending, sparking an angry response on social media and accusations of hypocrisy, given the cost of the new presidential palace and expensive outfits that she allegedly wears.
These calls are made against the backdrop of the worst economic crisis Turkey has experienced in years. Annual inflation reached almost 20 percent in October, and the pound has lost more than 40 percent of its value since the beginning of the year, marking a historic record drop to 13.49 pounds per dollar today, when it lost more than 14 percent in just one day.
The crisis has dealt a severe blow to ordinary Turks, and consumers have regularly complained on social media about the rapidly rising prices of basic foodstuffs.
The Turkish lira has depreciated sharply after Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defended a recent sharp cut in interest rates and vowed to win his “economic war for independence” despite criticism and calls for a change in monetary policy, Reuters reported. .
Erdogan is pressuring the central bank to focus on aggressively lowering interest rates to boost exports, investment and jobs, although inflation is approaching 20 per cent and the currency continues to depreciate and absorb Turkish savings.
Former Turkish Central Bank Deputy Governor Semih Tyumen, who was fired by Erdogan last month, has called for a return to policies to protect the value of the Turkish lira. “This irrational experiment, which has no chance of success, must be abandoned immediately,” Tyumen wrote on Twitter.
On Thursday, the Turkish bank cut its key interest rate by 100 basis points to 15 per cent, well below inflation of almost 20 per cent, and signaled a possible new cut.
Late Monday, Erdogan defended his policy at a press conference, saying a tighter monetary policy would not reduce inflation, provoking a new collapse in the pound.
Despite criticism of monetary policy, Erdogan has ruled out early presidential and parliamentary elections, TASS reported. “We have emerged victorious in all elections without exception. And I declare that there will be no early elections, they will be held in 2023, as planned,” the Turkish president told parliament today.
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