Independent Research Group: Annual inflation in Turkey 176 percent

Independent Research Group: Annual inflation in Turkey 176 percent
Publish:
A+ A-
Economists question the wide gap between the official inflation rate and figures given by ENAG (Inflation Research Group)

Once again the official figures and an independent group’s numbers about the inflation rate are miles apart in Turkey, where opposition groups accuse the government of meddling with the statistics. 

The official Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) measured the consumer inflation in July as 79,60 percent whereas independent ENAG (Inflation Research Group) argued the rate was over 176 percent.

According to TurkStat the monthly consumer price index increased by 2.37 percent, and the producer price index by 5,17. 

TurkStat said that the health expenses saw the highest increase compared to the previous month with 6.98 percent.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan fired four of the TurkStat directors in two years. 

"Turkey never witnessed an 82-point explosion in inflation in one year during its entire economic history, neither in the 70s, 80s, nor 90s when there was an oil crisis. In the future, it will be taught as a lesson on how to impoverish society in a year" tweeted Ugur Gurses, an economist and a columnist for T24 website. 

Prof Hakan Kara from Bilkent University drew attention to the increasing gap between the numbers by the chamber of commerce and TurkStat’s figures about Istanbul inflation. 

CHP (People’s Republican Party) Deputy Chairman Veli Agbaba also blasted the TurkStat and asked: "Almost all products, from bread to beef, from milk to cheese, increased by more than 80 percent. Why this stubbornness and deception?"