A woman shops at a market in Ankara, Türkiye, March 5, 2024. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)
by Burak Akinci
ANKARA, March 5 (Xinhua) -- As the holy month of Ramadan is set to kick off soon, millions of Muslims in Türkiye are feeling the shock of high inflation with an unrelenting rise in the prices of essential goods.
Türkiye's capital city Ankara's historic Ulus bazaar is generally the place to go when a typical Turkish family prepares the fast-breaking meal in the evening, the iftar.
"Naturally, we are excited about Ramadan. However, shopping for commodities ahead of this holy time is very difficult because of soaring prices," Yusuf Bulut, a 64-year-old shopper, told Xinhua inside the noisy and crowded bazaar.
This pensioner complained of "excessively high prices" ahead of a time of spiritual significance, calling the cost-of-living blow "unprecedented."
"In the old days, we had less money but more purchasing power," the senior citizen lamented.
Türkiye's annual inflation swung to a 15-month high, peaking at 67.1 percent in February, up from 65.8 a month earlier, according to official data released on Monday. Food inflation reached a staggering 71 percent.
"Ramadan this year will be very challenging because our purchasing power is reduced to nearly nothing," Enver Ozduran, another shopper in the bazaar, said, showing his purchases of fruits and vegetables.
Due to the skyrocketing price, he complained, meat has become unaffordable for his family." Everything is out of reach because of this cost-of-living blow. Everything is very expensive," he said.
According to Aydin Tufekci, head of Istanbul's Chamber of Butchers, the price of red meat has doubled in a year, and it will continue to go up.
"In the past two weeks alone, there have been two price hikes," he told NTV private news channel on the weekend.
Turkish media have run stories of long queues of pensioners and low-income earners waiting for hours in the winter cold outside the state-run Meat and Milk Board office in several cities to buy meat.
The firm sells meat at almost half the prices in supermarkets and butcher shops at its nationwide stores.
According to the Turkish government, some traders have exploited the upcoming Ramadan period to increase prices, adding to the financial strain on ordinary Turks. To prevent such a scenario, authorities have announced the implementation of vigilant market monitoring.
In a move to support both consumers and farmers in Türkiye, Agricultural Credit, the country's largest farmer organization, on Monday announced a price freeze campaign at over 4,000 cooperative market shops during Ramadan.
According to official data, the Turkish economy performed better than anticipated on an annual basis, with a growth of 4.5 percent in 2023, but the growth has not been enough to offset runaway inflation.
Since the middle of last year, the Turkish government has reversed its ultra-low interest rate policy, which economists believe contributed to a currency crisis and led to an increase in the cost of living.
However, despite several interest rate hikes, inflation continues to be high.
Some policymakers are optimistic that inflation in the country could dip in the second half of this year.
Meanwhile, the Turkish lira slumped to a new record low against the U.S. dollar last week, resulting in 31 liras going for one dollar. On Tuesday, the lira was trading at 31.70 against the greenback. ■
A man shops at a market in Ankara, Türkiye, March 5, 2024. (Photo by Mustafa Kaya/Xinhua)
