There is not much to say about the announced inflation rates. In addition to the annual CPI inflation rate of around 62%, price increases of at least 80% were seen in items such as restaurants and hotels, health and education in the same period. With the re-inclusion of natural gas prices, monthly inflation in the housing group rose by more than 11% in November.
Although there was no significant “decline” in core inflation it slowed down in November, but it remains 7 percentage points above the CPI on an annual basis.
Unless core inflation falls below CPI rates, it will not be possible to say that price increases have been curbed. However, I also see that the economic media is giving almost unconditional support to Minister Simsek and the Central Bank management. They want to correct the perception of the citizens by giving the impression that “things are getting better”.
It would be shortsighted to interpret the purpose of this propaganda as an effort to restore confidence. Because it is clear that what has been done so far has not resulted in any improvements in favor of the ordinary citizen, but rather in reducing the cost of those who continue their activities by borrowing abroad or in enabling large savers to earn money at high interest rates. In other words, the intensive support of the press is designed to prevent citizens from revolting against the steps taken to improve the affairs of vested interests.
There is nothing wrong with fighting inflation. However, it is not the right approach for those representing big capital to support a continuous increase in interest rates rather than a direct fight against the causes of inflation. Those who ignore the inflationary effects of practices such as the tax regime, foreign trade regime, public deficits and monetary policy have only one motive: “Let me keep silent about the interest that is not relevant to me, so that no one will argue about my interest”.
I wonder what they would do if they knew that the people who can easily afford the cost of living, from rubber shoes to bread, from restaurants to school fees, are the same people who are demanding from the government the practices that create these costs? In all my meetings with pressure groups, I have seen that they all believe that they are right, that citizens should pay the bill for the practices they demand to protect themselves.
It is obvious that it is the state that needs to prevent this level of indifference. Therefore, it all comes back to the way the state exercises its authority.
