Steve Hanke, a professor of applied economics at John Hopkins University and former senior economist with a Reagan White House advisory council, has claimed that Turkey’s real inflation is much higher than figures provided by the country’s official statistics authority would indicate, the Diken news website reported on Monday.
Hanke shared his comments on Twitter where he said Turkey’s annual inflation measured for April 13 is at 43 percent.
“Don’t be fooled by the Erdoğan gov’t rate of 20%. TurkStat measurements are not to be trusted,” Hanke tweeted, referring to Turkey’s Statistical Institute.
Hanke also tweeted about Turkey’s new plan to help banks recently unveiled by Finance Minister Berat Albayrak. “Erdoğan’s $5 billion stimulus is too little, too late to help Turkey’s debt-ridden banks.
Unless a currency board is installed, nothing will work with inflation at 40%/year and the pathetic, half-baked lira as an anchor for the economy.”