Turkey is on the verge of complete bankruptcy – this assessment of the situation was voiced by the former Minister of Economy of the Republic, the leader of the Turkish opposition party DEVA Ali Babacan. For the tourism industry, which is a significant sector of the economy that earns foreign exchange, it threatens massive power outages in hotels for non-payment, skyrocketing prices due to greatly increased costs, and as a result – loss of tourism.
“Today, I would like to say that we are on the verge of bankruptcy as a country and call on the government to fulfill its responsibilities immediately. I am worried because the risk of default in our country, namely the risk of bankruptcy has reached an unprecedented level. We are faced with the question of economic and financial survival. Turkey’s credit rating has fallen to its worst level in history, “Ahval quoted Mr. Babacan as saying at a party meeting. The publication reminds us that such an assessment is expressed by an expert who held high positions – in particular the Minister of Economy, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Deputy Prime Minister in the government of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
What is the default for Turkey, what is bankruptcy? This means that the Republic of Turkey cannot pay for the natural gas and oil it imports. Bankruptcy means that basic needs such as gas and diesel cannot be met even with money. You have money, you can’t get more than half a gas tank, or you wait in line for 3 hours. This is bankruptcy, “he said.
For the Turkish tourism industry, however, the following signal sounds more alarming. “Bankruptcy means large-scale and long-term power outages across the country. Imagine that the electricity is off for six hours, 10 hours a day. That’s the danger. Bankruptcy means complete economic and financial collapse. Bankruptcy means chaos, “the expert said. He also called on President Erdogan to “immediately change the management of the country’s economy and finances based on reason and science”, and to appoint qualified staff to the Central Bank “not interfere” in its work.
It will be recalled that alarming reports from Turkish hotels began to arrive in early February this year. Hotel owners predicted “abnormal price increases”, up to 100% due to the financial and energy crisis in the country. “Until recently, the share of energy in hotel spending was 4-8%, now it reaches almost 100%, ie all our income goes to pay. And we do not yet know how prices for electricity and food will increase in the winter, “said another hotel expert, Bulent Zuzer, vice president of the Aegean Association of Tourism and Accommodation (ETIK). According to him, these costs have to be included in the prices – and even at the stage of early booking prices have already increased by 50%. Read the details in the DIP article “The cost of a holiday in Turkey is rising by 100%: the terms and reasons.”
The rise in prices was also recorded by Ukrainian citizens living in Turkey. According to them, gasoline and food prices rose by seven miles. Tonight the price of gasoline was raised again to about 15.6 lira (37 hryvnias). Last night, diesel was raised to the same level … For comparison, a year ago a liter of gasoline cost 7.3 lira (12.5 hryvnias), and even last November it cost another 8.48 (14.5 hryvnias) per liter of gasoline, ie. the main increase is happening right now. The fall of the lira, the rise in the price of oil … all this is affecting the people – the people are already desperately joking that they will soon change to horses,”- said the expats.