A survey conducted by the İstanbul Planning Agency (IPA) has revealed that the cost of living in Turkey’s most populous city increased by 80.59 percent in August compared to the same month of 2022.
The IPA, which was established in 2020 under the İstanbul Metropolitan Municipality, calculated the cost of living in İstanbul for a family of four to be TL 42,593 ($1,589) in August, showing an increase of TL 3,760 ($140) in comparison to July.
The product that saw the highest increase in price was olive oil, at 144 percent.
Retail prices in İstanbul increased 8.80 percent month-on-month in August, for an annual rate of 74.17 percent, according to data from the İstanbul Chamber of Commerce (İTO), marking the highest level of annual retail inflation in the city in the past six months.
Compared to the previous month, spending on transport and communications increased by 32.29 percent, food by 9.77 percent, household goods by 8.94 percent and housing by 6.50 percent. Spending on health and personal care increased by 1.87 percent, while spending on clothing increased only slightly by 0.33 percent.
More than 40 percent of Turkey’s workforce earns the minimum wage allowed by law, which was set by the government this year at TL 11,402 ($425).
Turkey’s poor have been hit the hardest by an economic crisis that saw the official annual rate of inflation reach 85 percent last year.
In July the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (TÜRK-İŞ) showed the hunger line, which refers to the amount a family of four has to spend on basic food expenses, to be TL 11,658 ($435), overtaking the minimum wage.