Economists react to inflation: As if they were doing a good deed...

The inflation figures announced by TURKSTAT have again become a subject of debate. TURKSTAT, which did not announce the material basket, announced September inflation at 3.08, and economists reminded the producer inflation. Economist Burak Arzova said, "It is as if the producer has been bearing the costs himself for months, as if he has been doing a good deed." Former CBRT Chief Economist Hakan Kara, on the other hand, said, "The worst of this happened in World War II."

Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced September inflation data. Accordingly, consumer inflation increased by 3.08 percent month-on-month and 83.45 percent year-on-year. In producer inflation, the gap widened even more, reaching 4.78 percent monthly and 151.50 percent annually. Transportation and food inflation remained at the top of consumer inflation. Transportation inflation ranked first with 117.66 percent, while food inflation ranked second with 93.05 percent. For lower income groups, food and transportation constitute a significant portion of the expenditure items. The producer inflation also paints a darker picture. The 50 percent hike in electricity and natural gas used by producers in September affected inflation. According to TURKSTAT, the cost of electricity, gas and steam for producers was 16.76 percent monthly and 416.58 percent annually in September. Economists, on the other hand, criticize TURKSTAT for not disclosing the basket of items in consumer inflation and do not trust the data. Economist Burak Arzova pointed out that consumer inflation may be higher and said, "The difference between producer and consumer inflation is remarkable. The gap is widening. Is the producer bearing the cost? TURKSTAT's failure to disclose the basket of items, creates a blindness." 'THE FIGURES DO NOT MAKE SENSE IF THE PRODUCER IS NOT DOING ALL TO THE GOOD' Arzova said: "The historical gap between consumer prices and producer prices is growing. However, this difference is not reflected in consumer prices. It is as if these companies have been bearing the costs themselves for months without reflecting these prices and are doing it all to the good. This does not make sense. On the one hand, it is a figure below expectations. Since we cannot see the item prices, it is not possible to make a comparison. It is as if the increase in energy prices was not reflected." Referring to food inflation, Arzova said, "While food prices were much higher, TURKSTAT figures were below this. We face high inflation in September. Therefore, I can say this for these figures. When we look historically, food inflation, which showed a monthly change of 0.66 percent in September 2020, showed a change of 0.50 percent in 2021. When we look at September of this year, we see a change of 1.97 percent." Former CBRT Chief Economist and Bilkent University Academic Hakan Kara shared graphs on his twitter account and said, "The most abrupt inflation in the 99-year history of the Republic was experienced during World War II. The epistemological heterodox neuro-economic model was destined to break the record." Kara reminded that the only period when inflation increased faster than this was the World War II period. Kara also drew attention to the Cyprus inflation and reminded that consumer inflation in Cyprus has reached 120 percent. https://twitter.com/ali_hakan_kara/status/1576833348974309382 Follow Global Economic Developments on Social Media! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Facebook account! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Instagram account! Click here to follow Ieconomy official Twitter account!