The rate of the Turkish lira fell to a historic low – according to the media, on Tuesday it exceeded the mark of 29 lira per dollar for the first time in history, although not for long. However, experts do not expect that inflation in Turkey will slow down shortly – and tourism is threatened by the consequences.
“The Turkish lira fell to a new all-time low in early trading on Monday, December 4. The exchange rate of the dollar to the Turkish lira (USD/TRY) increased by 0.79%, reaching the mark of 29.1292 liras, according to data from the international Forex market. A sharp jump occurred at 02:05 Kyiv time, but two minutes later the dollar returned to below 29 lira (28.9406),” the media reports. As a result, the lira rate was 28.85.
At the same time, new data on inflation became the reason for playing back losses. “The indicator rose to a maximum in 11 months, but it turned out to be better than forecast,” the agency explained. Annual inflation of consumer prices in Turkey in November was 61.98%, meanwhile economists from Bloomberg economists on average predicted 62.6%. The monthly indicator also turned out to be better than expected: 3.28% against the forecast of 3.9% and the October value of 3.43%.
As experts add, over the past 12 months, the exchange rate of the dollar against the Turkish lira has increased by approximately 55%. Inflation in the country is forecast to remain high until mid-2024, with further growth above 70% due to seasonal effects in January and unfavorable base effects in May.
We will remind you that Turkish tourism experts foresee global problems in this regard. The Turkish Statistical Institute (TUIK) said that hotels and restaurants rose in price by almost 93% last November and ranked first in terms of price growth. “Turkey is no longer a cheap country for travel and that we have difficulties in moving forward in this new situation,” Deniz Ugur, CEO of the “German” Turkish tour operator Bentour, commented on this situation. “If prices continue to rise, Turkey may lose many tourists to its closest competitors,” he added.