In remarks made yesterday (January 9), Turkish Finance Minister Mehmet Şimşek identified Turkey’s soaring rent prices as the biggest factor behind the country’s high cost of living. Şimşek had previously refused to extend a 25% limit on rent increases in mid-2024.
Şimşek’s Monday remarks were made at a yearly meeting of MÜSİAD, a non-governmental organization representing businessmen and industrialists in Turkey.
Regarding addressing Turkey’s soaring rents, the Finance Minister said:
“Rents are the biggest factor in the high cost of living. We can solve this problem by increasing the supply of housing.”
In May 2024, Şimşek had announced that he would not extend a 25% limit on rent increases in Turkey, saying that such a measure was unnecessary; a measure taken previously to curb soaring housing prices in light of Turkey’s faltering economy.
Şimşek’s tenure, which began in June 2023, has been marked by attempts to slow Turkey’s. persistent inflation, and the Finance Minister has routinely promised a period of. ‘disinflation’, which was repeated in his remarks Monday.
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Şimşek also touched on other topics including Turkey’s aging population, the country’s. position as a ‘regional industrial base,’ a lowered risk premium, and plans to reduce. inflation to 20%.
According to figures announced in early December, Turkey’s yearly inflation for 2024 stood at 47.09%.
Soaring rents in recent years have resulted in student protests across Turkey. Big cities such as Istanbul, Ankara, and Izmir have seen particularly severe increases.
Written/translated for Medyascope by Leo Kendrick
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