BY ALAATTIN AKTAS
We have made a mess of inflation. It’s heading downwards now. This has happened not only in the rate of increase of consumer prices, the first thing that comes to mind when we say inflation, but also in many indices. Let’s remember the course of primary indices:
►The annual hike in consumer prices, which saw 85.5% in October, fell to 84.39% in November. But prices rose by 2.88% in November. We paid nearly TRY 103 for the thing in November that we bought for TRY 100 in October. Prices are still increasing.
►The annual hike in domestic producer prices, which hit 157.69% in October, nosedived to 136.02% in November. But prices still increased by 0.74% in November.
►The annual surge in agricultural input prices, which saw 138.15% in September, declined to 134.76% in October, according to the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat). But prices continued to increase in the index, monthly. The surge was 2.68% in October.
►The annual surge in residential prices, which was 189.1% in September, decreased to 188.2% in October. But the monthly price hike was 5.4% in October.
►The annual agricultural producer prices (Agriculture-PPI) resisted declining until the end of November, but its resistance will probably be broken in December. The annual increase in Agriculture-PPI, which stood at 163.32% in October, rose to 169.45% in November. However, the annual rate will decline after the surge of 12.51% recorded in December 2021, which will be removed from the calculation and replaced with a lower rate. All indices besides the Agriculture-PPI have started to decline. This trend will be more visible in December. Since this is already known, the government is stating that the decrease will be more significant in the upcoming months…
Those, who can do even basic calculations already know that the annual rates will decline. Politicians pretend that this is their doing.
The people that believe they can eat bread at a cheaper price, drink water at a cheaper price, and consume natural gas at a lower price when they’re told that inflation falls are the problem.
Politicians also don’t want this segment of the population to realize the truth.
They engage with a discourse as follows:
“We’ve stopped inflation thanks to the measures we took…”
These measures boil down to, essentially, that they raised prices suddenly last year. If you ask them why they didn’t manage to lower it until now, they will tell you that it’s simply that the measures they took have only now begun to show their effect.
Politicians’ excuses don’t end!
If you obey the person you elected no matter what, if you assume that he is right, no matter what, then, as a worker, civil servant, retiree, tradesperson, merchant, or industrialist, you shouldn’t complain.
