‘We need to fix inflation and raise wages’

Birol Aydemir, former president of the Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK), who is part of the Nation Alliance’s economic staff, said that inflation is deliberately underestimated and fixed income impoverished. Aydemir stated that if they come to power as the Nation Alliance, they will look at the inflation data back at least 3-4 years and make corrections, and that the salary increases for employees should be redeterminated according to the new real inflation data. to be released. Aydemir responded to SÖZCU’s questions:

SÖZCÜ: Could there be a retrospective correction of inflation if the government changes?

Birol Aydemir: Absolutely… Inflation should be recalculated at least 3-4 years back. Because when inflation started to rise, they started to apply different methods that were not in line with the standards. Especially after September 2022, the rope snapped. They increased the methods to show low inflation, which they had done shortly before.

THE MAIN CAUSE OF POVERTY

– How long do retroactive accounts take? Can adjusted inflation be announced on June 3 or July 3?

When someone who knows the job comes to him, he pulls it all out and fixes it in a few weeks. Argentina has done this before. If the presidential election doesn’t make it to the second round, as it seems, even if it doesn’t make it to June 3, I think the first real inflation data will be released on July 3.

– Will salary increases be modified retrospectively based on actual data?

It definitely needs to be replaced. The main reason for the poverty we are currently experiencing is the low inflation rate in TURKSTAT. Fixed income paid the bill. Enough of poverty. The first thing to do is return the real inflation losses of fixed-income wage earners.

Speaking to SÖZCÜ correspondent Erdoğan Süzer, former TÜİK president Birol Aydemir (right) said inflation was deliberately low.

Growth is lower than shown

– What other data would a possible change in inflation change?

If you are miscalculating inflation, you are miscalculating the national income deflator. So giving growth also means evil. In this case, the growth will be less than shown. It is easy to calculate retrospectively, but its consequences are worrisome. Growth, salary increases for retirees and employees, the revaluation rate, everything will change. We have to work seriously on these issues.

In 1 year, the economy is on the right track

– How soon will the economy return to normal?

We will leave the economy without rules as the first thing, and we will return to the model of rational planned and programmed economy. I believe that if qualified cadres are put to work, as they will be, everything will change within a year and the economy will be on track. The destruction is so strong that, unfortunately, not everything will be rosy at once. But the improvement will start from day one.

Onion prices will boost Erdogan

– How much do onion prices affect election results?

Due to unrealistic inflation in the last 1.5 years, there has been a huge collapse in people’s purchasing power. The rich got richer, the poor got poorer, the middle class fell into the league of the poor. Labor’s share of national income decreased by 8 points in 3 years. Today, people cannot buy onions. Onions have increased by 900 percent in the last 1.5 years, that is, 10 times. The president underestimates the onion, but the president will take the onion.