The economy also became a mess.

Turkey The economy was caught off guard by the earthquake. In the economic indicators report prepared by the CHP, it was noted that there was the largest current account deficit in the last nine years. In the report, “the current account deficit widened to $48.8 billion in 2022, as the government targeted a ‘current surplus’ by depreciating the Turkish lira at the expense of creating record inflation.” In the report, which indicated that the central government budget had a deficit of 32 billion lira in January, the following data was shared: “The Central Bank’s gross reserve decreased to minus 44.7 billion dollars. Individual loan and credit card debts of citizens increased to 1 trillion 681 billion lira. The annual rate of increase in producer prices of agricultural products was 142.84 percent.

RECORD OF SHORT-TERM DEBTS

Emphasizing that Turkey, having difficulty finding long-term external debt, set a record for short-term external debt in 2022, the report states that “External debts with an original maturity of one year or less increased by 26.4 billion dollars and reached 145.6 billion dollars, while the external debt that must be paid within one year, regardless of the original maturity, the amount of debt also increased to 190.2 billion dollars. The external debt of the private sector increased $4.2 billion last year to $235.4 billion.