Fuelled by an experimental central bank policy that has chased away foreign investors and eroded the lira’s value, Turkish inflation probably accelerated last month to a level last recorded in mid-1998.
Annual inflation probably rose to 83.5 per cent in September, climbing for a 16th month, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey.
The jump comes at a time when central bank chief Sahap Kavcioglu has embarked on a series of interest rate cuts this year, making Turkey an outlier among global monetary authorities, most of which are aggressively tightening to control price increases.
Turkey’s central bank said in its latest forecast in July that inflation should peak somewhere between 80 per cent and 90 per cent by October. The government estimates that it will slow to 65 per cent at the end of this year.
However, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has insisted on even lower interest rates, saying that they will help to reduce inflation, an argument that contradicts conventional economic theory — and which, so far, hasn’t been validated by real-world experience, least of all in Turkey.
He has called for the benchmark rate to be cut to below 10 per cent by the end of the year, from 12 per cent currently.
“Further rate cuts will inevitably lead to more currency depreciation and higher inflation,” Morgan Stanley economists, including Alina Slyusarchuk, said in a report last week.
Turkish officials reject criticism that rampant price increases are a result of monetary policy errors, instead blaming Russia’s invasion of Ukraine for a global rally in commodities including energy and food.
Yet, even when the impact from such volatile items is excluded, annual Turkish inflation stood at more than 66 per cent as of August, according to a core price index published by state statistics agency TurkStat.
“Price gains are high, broad-based and likely to be persistent. Items with triple-digit inflation accounted for 25 per cent of the consumer basket,” Bloomberg economist Selva Bahar Baziki said.
“Recent and forthcoming interest rate cuts will likely result in even higher inflation in the coming months.”
The experimental policies have already pushed inflation above 100 per cent in parts of the country. Consumer prices in Istanbul, Turkey’s most populous city, more than doubled from a year earlier, according to a retail price index — compiled by the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce — released on Saturday, before the national data on Monday.
A breakdown of the Istanbul data showed the cost of everything from rent to food rose sharply last month. Attempting to ease the pain for poor Turks before elections scheduled for next June, the government has raised the national minimum wage twice in a year.
Mr Kavcioglu has delivered cuts, as sought by Mr Erdogan, at the last two rate-setting meetings, slashing the benchmark by 100 basis points each time.
That has left Turkey with the world’s deepest negative interest rates when adjusted for inflation, while the lira has lost more than 50 per cent of its value against the dollar in the past 12 months.
Important questions to consider
1. Where on the plane does my pet travel?
There are different types of travel available for pets:
- Manifest cargo
- Excess luggage in the hold
- Excess luggage in the cabin
Each option is safe. The feasibility of each option is based on the size and breed of your pet, the airline they are traveling on and country they are travelling to.
2. What is the difference between my pet traveling as manifest cargo or as excess luggage?
If traveling as manifest cargo, your pet is traveling in the front hold of the plane and can travel with or without you being on the same plane. The cost of your pets travel is based on volumetric weight, in other words, the size of their travel crate.
If traveling as excess luggage, your pet will be in the rear hold of the plane and must be traveling under the ticket of a human passenger. The cost of your pets travel is based on the actual (combined) weight of your pet in their crate.
3. What happens when my pet arrives in the country they are traveling to?
As soon as the flight arrives, your pet will be taken from the plane straight to the airport terminal.
If your pet is traveling as excess luggage, they will taken to the oversized luggage area in the arrival hall. Once you clear passport control, you will be able to collect them at the same time as your normal luggage. As you exit the airport via the ‘something to declare’ customs channel you will be asked to present your pets travel paperwork to the customs official and / or the vet on duty.
If your pet is traveling as manifest cargo, they will be taken to the Animal Reception Centre. There, their documentation will be reviewed by the staff of the ARC to ensure all is in order. At the same time, relevant customs formalities will be completed by staff based at the arriving airport.
4. How long does the travel paperwork and other travel preparations take?
This depends entirely on the location that your pet is traveling to. Your pet relocation compnay will provide you with an accurate timeline of how long the relevant preparations will take and at what point in the process the various steps must be taken.
In some cases they can get your pet ‘travel ready’ in a few days. In others it can be up to six months or more.
5. What vaccinations does my pet need to travel?
Regardless of where your pet is traveling, they will need certain vaccinations. The exact vaccinations they need are entirely dependent on the location they are traveling to. The one vaccination that is mandatory for every country your pet may travel to is a rabies vaccination.
Other vaccinations may also be necessary. These will be advised to you as relevant. In every situation, it is essential to keep your vaccinations current and to not miss a due date, even by one day. To do so could severely hinder your pets travel plans.
Source: Pawsome Pets UAE
Europe wide
Some of French groups are threatening Friday to continue their journey to Brussels, the capital of Belgium and the European Union, and to meet up with drivers from other countries on Monday.
Belgian authorities joined French police in banning the threatened blockade. A similar lorry cavalcade was planned for Friday in Vienna but cancelled after authorities prohibited it.
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
