Page 57 - TURKRptJun22

bne June 2022 Southeast Europe I 57
with its eastern territory controlled by Russia-backed separatists, is seen as more likely than any other to get dragged into the war. In the last week there has been a series of unexplained attacks on targets within Transnistria, blamed by the authorities in Tiraspol on Ukraine and by Ukraine on Russia. The Times reported recently, citing Ukrainian sources, that Moscow has already decided to invade Moldova. However, Moldovan officials say they see no signs of an invasion threat.
Serbia
Serbia is one of Russia’s few remaining friends in Europe. The day of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on February 24, President Aleksandar Vucic said Serbia would not be joining western sanctions on Russia, citing Moscow’s support on
the Kosovo issue and its refusal to join sanctions against Serbia during the
wars of the 1990s. Despite not joining the sanctions, Serbia has backed key
UN resolutions against Russia. At the emergency session of the UN on March 2, Serbia voted in favour of the resolution condemning the Russian aggression against Ukraine. On April 7, Serbia was among the countries that voted at the UN General Assembly to suspend Russia from the UN Human Rights Council for “gross and systematic violations and abuses of human rights" in Ukraine.
After Vucic and his Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) won the April 3 general and presidential elections, there was speculation that with the urgent need to please pro-Russian voters removed, Belgrade might change course and
fall into line with other EU candidate countries. However, immediately after polls closed, Vucic made it clear that Serbia will not abandon Russia. Meanwhile, Serbia is pursuing a new long-term gas deal with Russia.
An apparent rift between the two countries emerged in April, when Russian President Vladimir Putin made comments that appeared to indicate Moscow would drop its support for Serbia over Kosovo in exchange for concessions on the Donbas republics. Serbia’s usually pro-Russian tabloids immediately turned on Putin. Later, however, Russia’s ambassador to Serbia, Alexander Bocan Harchenko, told Insajder Television that Moscow has no plans to recognise Kosovo as
an independent state.
Credit card allowance difference between survival and oblivion for millions of Turks amid inflation crisis
Jonny Tickle
Turkey’s inflation crisis has left millions across the country turning to credit cards to feed their families.
The real-life implications of inflation that officially reached 70% in April (or an even more astonishing 157% if you believe an independent research group that the government is attempting to shut down) are stark. The gains of pay rises have been decimated. Food and non-alcoholic drinks inflation by the official measure is running at 89.1%. Great numbers are forced to go hungry, skip meals or eke out a life on a credit card balance that becomes more menacing by the day.
“Before the Covid-19 pandemic, I didn’t have a credit card,” 30-year-old graphic designer Ege told bne IntelliNews in Istanbul. “Now food prices have gone
up, and my landlord wants to increase my rent. I’m borrowing more than I ever planned to.”
Ege isn’t the only one. After paying increased bills and buying basic food, many people are stuck with nothing, and are left with no choice but to seek credit. According to the Interbank Card Center, a Turkish partnership of 13 public and private Turkish banks, there are 86.2mn credit cards currently in use in Turkey – more than the country’s population of around 84mn. Just five years ago, the figure was just 58.7mn.
Most strikingly, the volume of spend on Turkish credit cards has skyrocketed in the last year. In January 2021, Turkish lira (TRY) 94bn ($6.3bn) was spent on credit card accounts. One year later, this had jumped to TRY157bn ($10.5bn, though the value of the lira versus the
dollar collapsed 44% last year and it’s down by around another 14% so far this year).
Price increases, forced upon businesses by the surging costs of importing commodities, are also taking their toll on the country’s smaller businesses.
At a small independent shop in Istanbul’s well-off Sisli district, customers are buying fewer items than ever before, and are now more likely to purchase single items rather than bunches.
“Food prices are changing almost daily, and it’s hard to keep up,” Muhsin, the shop owner’s son, explained. “If we raise our prices, we worry that our customers will go elsewhere. But we can’t increase them fast enough to match the cost of food, fuel. It’s a difficult situation.”
www.bne.eu