BY ISMET OZKUL Turkish voters will make an important decision at the historic elections on Sunday. It is a go-no-go decision time by evaluating the 5-year experience in which the presidential system has been transformed into a one-man regime. Here, we will only look at the economic side of this evaluation with data. Here is...
Author: Commentary (Commentary )
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To what extent does the misery index influence voters’ choices?
BY TALIP AKTAS Group interests identified with self-interest are the primary determinant of typical voter behavior in line with the literature. Although political interests come to the fore sometimes, economic interests are mainly determinant. Electors vote for the party which will provide the highest benefit for themselves or for the segment of society they identify...
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Budget deficit risk of around 7% of GDP
BY FATIH OZATAY The budget has deteriorated significantly due to election spending, including the regulation on victims of the delayed pension age (EYT). Compensation for the losses of those who lost their houses and workplaces due to the earthquake is largely the duty of the public. Add to that infrastructure, hospitals, schools, etc… Estimates suggest...
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Need for anchor
BY FATIH OZATAY It is obvious that the staff that will implement a program that promises to return to reasonableness in the economy will not take the helm of the ship immediately after the election. It will take a while. What can happen during that time? It’s a harder question to answer. But let me...
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When you don’t learn from a mistake from 30 years ago
BY FATIH OZATAY Let’s remind what happened in the last months of 1993 and the first months of 1994 which paved the way for the decisions taken on April 5, 1994. There were important fragilities in the economy. The borrowing need of the public sector corresponded to 10.3% of the GDP in 1993. Inflation averaged...
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KKM, liraization: Fiddlesticks!
BY FATIH OZATAY Let’s look at where the ‘liraization’ has brought us: A high burden came from the FX-protected TRY deposit accounts (KKM) to the Treasury and the Central Bank (CB). Its cost to the Treasury was TRY 92.5bn in 2022. Based on the Annual Report of the CB, Hakan Kara calculated that it costed...
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The post-earthquake needs analysis
BY FATIH OZATAY The financing needed to raise the quake-hit region, and meet the necessary support to those, who lost their homes and jobs, is estimated at around USD 150bn, according to a report by the Economic Policy Research Foundation of Turkey (TEPAV). USD 88bn stems from construction expenditures. One of the determinants of this...
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Quake-hit cities to get investment support
BY HUSEYIN GOKCE The scope of the Attraction Centers Program, which is aimed at making up the development disparities between regions and is implemented in 24 provinces currently, will be enlarged to cover all cities hit by twin quakes. The regulation announced by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan last week will be upgraded with a Presidential...
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15% of earthquake victim voters migrated
BY HUSEYIN GOKCE Elections on May 14 will be organized in a different atmosphere in 11 provinces hit by twin quakes on February 6. There are nearly 9.2 million voters in these cities. However, around 1.4 million were estimated to migrate to other provinces after the earthquake. Around 15% of voters in the quake-hit region...
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Hunger limit doesn’t fit in wallets; new banknote is needed
BY TALIP AKTAS The hunger limit, which totaled TRY 735 in January 2009 when current banknotes started circulating, reached TRY 9,425 in February. It was enough to have four TRY 200 banknotes in the wallet. It’s impossible to fit in the current hunger limit as there is no wallet where 47 TRY 200 banknotes can...