The fact that Central Bank Governor Erkan gets consumer intelligence from Mr. “Sadık Abi”, the clerk of her apartment building, is a more valuable indicator than it seems. It gives the impression that she is more familiar with the problems of the people, from food prices to rents, than economic governance. (Photo: X/@hafizegayeerkan)
Perhaps Mr. Mehmet Şimşek, Turkish Minister of Treasury and Finance, will also need one “Sadık Abi.” “Abi” means elder brother in Turkish and is also a courtesy word for someone older than you whom you respect and like.
Mr. “Sadık Abi” appears to be the janitor of the building where Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) Governor Mrs. Hafize Gaye Erkan lives. Mr. Sadık, whose surname is not mentioned, also seems to be a trusted source of market intelligence for her, as we understand from her interview with Ahmet Hakan Coşkun, the Editor-in-Chief of the daily Hürriyet, on December 16.
“I often ask Sadık Abi about the prices,” Mrs. Erkan told Hürriyet; “I interrogate him. I say ‘the price has gone down’. He says, ‘It hasn’t gone down’. He always says, ‘The prices haven’t gone down; go and look at the price of onions if you want’.”
So, she goes to markets in disguise to check the prices. “Nobody recognises me,” she says as she goes to both “cheap grocery stores” and “exclusive, expensive grocery stores.” She did not mention onions, but she says she checks up on the prices of bread, potatoes, meat, and milk.
Frankly speaking, I appreciated Mrs. Erkan’s sincere answers. Her criteria are more concrete than the Turkish Statistical Institute’s (TÜİK) method of determining consumer inflation. She also addressed the rent problem of the citizens as well as the livelihood problem in an exemplary way by sharing her own bitter experience.
Rents in Istanbul skyrocketed
Our Central Bank Governor, who makes her yoghurt from the milk she bought and who is one of the highest-paid bureaucrats, also said candidly that she moved in with his mother because the rents in Istanbul were out of pocket.
The Istanbul Planning Agency (IPA) immediately came up with an explanation. IPA said that the housing crisis in Istanbul has been going on for some time because the high inflation, which is the responsibility of Mrs. Erkan, is constantly eroding the purchasing power of fixed-income people.
However, our Minister of Treasury and Finance, Mr. Şimşek, who we understand has not got a consumer price expert intelligence source and market advisor like Sadık Abi, who tells the truth without disturbing, had just a few days ago given the “good news” to the public that “rents were going down,” which would help the downward trend in inflation.
“Will we have to tighten our belts further?” the Editor-in-Chief of Hürriyet asked, referring to the expression used for austerity measures in the economy.
“How much more can citizens tighten their belts? We have tightened, and we think we have tightened enough,” Erkan answers.
We would not be surprised if Mrs. Arzu Çerkezoğlu, the head of the left-wing labour union federation DISK, said this, but when Mrs. Erkan, the Governor of the Central Bank, says it, we must admire her sincerity.
A “Sadık Abi” for Erdoğan
However, everyone, from labour unions to employers’ organisations to the most absurd associations, is worried that the real austerity policies will be implemented after the March 31, 2024, local elections.
As the Turkish inflation, which is 61,98 percent as of November 2023, according to official figures, could see single digits before 2026, Mrs. Erkan says the Turkish government’s eyes are especially on foreign investments to handle economic difficulties. But not only domestic political factors like elections but also external factors such as the Gaza crisis do not help with more investments. Therefore, both domestic and foreign investors are worried about a U-turn after the local elections.
That is why everyone is trying to acquire as much profit as they can until the local elections. At the ruling AKP’s Executive Committee meeting on December 9, Erdoğan told members who complained about Şimşek’s austerity efforts and asked him to open the purse strings a little more, “I don’t interfere with Mr. Şimşek. He decides for himself.” In Turkish political jargon, it may also mean that Mr. Erdoğan was also pointing at the person that he would accuse if another U-turn is needed depending on the results of the March local elections.
Therefore, like Mrs. Erkan, Mr. Şimşek may need a Sadık Abi to inform him about what is happening from the public’s point of view and discuss it sincerely.
In my opinion, it would be in the interest of the people and the country for President Erdoğan to consult with CBRT Governor Erkan and listen to Sadık Abi, or better yet, to find a Sadık Abi in addition to his yes-man economic advisors.
