Record Inflation Burns Pockets Of Turkish Tobacco Bosses, Farmers

Mehmet Emin Calkan begins work harvesting a tobacco field in rural Turkey before dawn, then has another shift skewering and stringing the tobacco to dry under the sun.

Photo Insert: Both landowners and workers in the tobacco-growing district of Celikhan squeezed between mountains in southeast Turkey are among millions grappling with the country’s economic turmoil.

The 19-year-old, who hopes to study electronic engineering, has undertaken strenuous work to support his family and pay for books he needs to prepare for the university entrance exam, Emrah Gurel and Suzan Fraser reported for the Associated Press (AP).

While he labors, his boss, tobacco grower Ismail Demir, says rising costs from fuel to fertilizers have seriously affected his livelihood.

“The vehicle I use to go to and from the field burns 300 Turkish lira ($16) of diesel. Last year, we were commuting for 50 Turkish lira ($3),” he said. “In short, when we add up the costs, we don’t have much left to live on.”

Both landowners and workers in the tobacco-growing district of Celikhan squeezed between mountains in southeast Turkey are among millions grappling with the country’s economic turmoil, including record inflation and a weakening currency.

Yearly inflation came in at a 24-year high of 83.45% on Monday, according to official government figures — the highest among the Group of 20 major economies. Independent experts, however, say the rate is much higher, with the Inflation Research Group putting it at 186.27%.

The sharpest increases in annual prices were in the transportation sector, at 117.66%, followed by food and non-alcoholic drink prices at 93%, according to the statistical institute’s data.

While countries worldwide have been grappling with an increase in food and fuel prices stoked by the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, economists say Turkey’s woes are mostly self-inflicted.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has espoused an unorthodox belief that higher borrowing costs lead to higher prices — a theory that runs contrary to established economic thinking.

Pressured by Erdogan, the Turkish central bank has been moving in the opposite direction of world economies that have been rapidly raising interest rates to cool soaring inflation. Last month, the bank cut its key rate by 1 percentage point, to 12%.

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