Fifty-nine percent of Turkey’s population is unable to make ends meet as their income was inadequate to meet their expenses, according to March survey by polling company Istanbul Economic Research.
Another 27 percent of those surveyed said their income was “just enough” to cover their expenses, according to the results of the survey shared by its managing director Can Selçuki on Twitter.
The survey arrives as Turkey’s inflation hit a new record in March, driven up by the fallout from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and soaring energy prices. Consumer prices accelerated to 61.14 percent at an annual rate, up from 54.4 percent in February, according to the statistics agency, extending a two-decade high.
Only seven percent surveyed said their income “exceeded” their expenses and a mere six percent said their income was “more than enough” to cover their expenditures.
The weakening lira, which lost 44 percent of its value last year and nine percent this year, and the soaring cost of living has become a major source of public discontent in Turkey, which is counting down to its next general and parliamentary elections in 2023. The country’s ailing economy threatens support for the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), which has been in power for 18 years.
A total of 40.7 percent of those who reported difficulty in meeting their needs were supporters of the ruling AKP, the survey found, the lowest percentage among all the other parties.
Some 88 percent of pro-Kurdish Peoples’ Democratic Party (HDP) supporters said their income failed to meet their expenses, followed by 80.4 percent for centre-right Good Party (İYİP), and 73.4 percent for the main opposition secularist Republican People’s Party (CHP).
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