50 TL have now become 5 lira

Although high inflation caused large drops in the value of TL and in the purchasing power of citizens, it also increased the proportion of large denomination money, such as 200 and 100 TL, which are the largest banknotes on the market, in the citizens’ pockets. With monthly inflation in Turkey rising steadily since January 2019, annual inflation reached 60 percent in August. With the drop in the value of TL, only 7.3 dollars can now be purchased with 200 lira, which corresponded to 132 dollars when it was introduced in 2009. However, with the withdrawal of coins from the market due to the high cost of living , 50 TL began to be perceived as 5 lira.

The 200 lira banknotes represented 65 percent of the money in circulation.

MARKET PURCHASES HAVE QUINTUPLED

Economist Uğur Civelek, who made assessments on the issue, interpreted the increase in large denomination banknotes as “an image of the deterioration in Turkey.” Civelek stated that Turkey has been fighting the problem of inflation for 7 or 8 years and that purchases in the market that previously cost 300 lira now exceed 1,500 lira, he said: “The coins are no longer used. 50 lira is perceived as the new 5 lira. “The rise in large denomination coins comes despite record spending on credit cards,” he said.

Economist Civelek, after highlighting that higher denomination banknotes, which have been talked about for some time but the government has refrained from taking action, have become a necessity, continued: “However, the government does not “The local authorities take no action before the elections because they know that this situation will be misinterpreted and that it can be used against them because they have been talking for years about the six zeros that they have taken from the currency.” Taking into account the number of banknotes, the share of 200 and 100 lira in total issues increased to 92.5 percent in August. The total size of the 200 lira banknotes amounted to 285.9 billion dollars.

It exceeded 1.5 billion units

According to August data from the Central Bank, the share of the 200 and 100 lira banknotes, the two largest banknotes on the market, in total issues in terms of quantity, increased to 62.8 percent. In February 2011, when emissions data began to be shared regularly, the share of the two largest bills was 26 percent, and in September 2021, when interest rate cuts began, it was 53 percent . The number of 200-lira banknotes exceeded 500 million lira in March 2022 and 1 billion lira in February 2023, and then exceeded the threshold of 1.5 billion lira in June.