Turkey’s main opposition, Republican People’s Party (CHP), claims that the annulment of the Istanbul municipal election cost Turkey 206 billion lira (over 34 billion US dollars) as the Turkish currency weakened and companies lost market values between the 1 st and 22nd of April 2019.
CHP said that minimum wage workers lost 37 dollars each and that foreign debt reached 3,342 lira per citizen.
“The cancellation of the elections in Istanbul cost Turkey heavily. Uncertainty triggered by the deterioration of the state of law and the ongoing uncertainty of the elections has affected the economy drastically. The lira lost 10 percent of its value and the national income shrunk by 81 billion dollars,” CHP’s report stated.
The CHP’s Deputy Chairman and Spokesman of Economic Policies, Faik Oztrak, who coordinated the report, said that the uncertainty in the elections in Istanbul has negatively affected 82 million citizens, not only Istanbulites, Sozcu daily reported.
Per capita income reduced by 986 dollars
The report mentioned that the Turkish currency lost 10 percent of its value between 1 April and 22 May when the Supreme Election Board announced the rerun decision of the March 31 st Istanbul metropolitan municipal election.
“The national income decreased by 81 billion dollars, and per capita income fell by 986 dollars. During the same period, the interest rate of the two-year government bond increased by 4.6 points to 25.7 percent.
“In May 2019, consumer confidence dropped to an all-time low since 2004 when the publishing of results started,” CHP’s report shows.
Weak Turkish currency cost companies 206 billion lira
Turkish companies also suffered serious losses as the Turkish lira lost its value against the US dollar. Companies with a net foreign currency debt of over 197 billion dollars lost 120 billion lira due to an increase in the exchange rate. The market value of the companies trading in stock exchange shrunk by 86 billion lira.
The equivalent of the minimum wage in foreign currency in Turkey was 368 dollars on April 1st and 331 dollars on May 22nd. Every minimum wage worker lost 37 dollars during this period.
As a result of the weakened lira, 272 billion lira was added to Turkey’s external debt and the total debt reached 2 trillion 714 billion lira, meaning the burden of foreign debt on each citizen increased by 3341 TL.