Page 24 - TURKRptOct22

2.7 Business and consumer confidence surveys
Jovan Vukotic, 42, head of Montenegro’s Skaljari criminal clan, was shot dead by a gunman on a motorcycle while he was in his car with his wife and daughter in Istanbul. The Vukotic case is not an exception as the Wild West mood continues. Gangsters from a vast number of countries around the world, as well as local gangsters, have been shooting each other in Turkey.
The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has reached a settlement on charges requiring Oracle Corporation (New York/ORCL) to pay $23mn for violating provisions of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and India.
Oracle was accused by the SEC of creating and using slush funds to bribe foreign officials in the three countries between 2016 and 2019.
Without admitting or denying the SEC’s findings, Oracle agreed to pay the fines.
Oracle subsidiaries in Turkey and UAE have also used the slush funds to pay for foreign officials to attend technology conferences.
In some instances, the officials’ families have accompanied them on trips for international conferences or on side trips taken to California.
Turkey has taken top spot from Brazil when it comes to the world’s most expensive iPhones, with the launch of the iPhone 14 models. The cheapest model available in Turkey goes for Turkish lira (TRY) 30,999, or $1,700.
After Turkey, in second place for the most expensive iPhones is Brazil, with the iPhone 14 models priced from $1,459.
Hungary, meanwhile, has moved past Sweden to take third place at $1,134. The US sells the cheapest iPhone 14s from $829.
The iPhones on sale . It is taxes that create the stark price disparities. Turkey is among the most ambitious countries in the world when it comes to collecting indirect taxes.
Effective as of July 1, Turkey’s government hiked the country's monthly net minimum wage by 30% to Turkish lira (TRY) 5,500 ($302).
Around half of Turkey’s labour force earns the minimum wage. An ordinary Turk is able to buy an iPhone 14 in six months if they do not spend their wages on anything else.
In 2021, Turks was ranked number one for the number of required days worked needed to buy an iPhone 13, with the requirement 93 days, or three months. Currently, it is hard for other nationalities to compete with the Turks as these figures have doubled.
The poverty threshold in Turkey for a four-person household stood at TRY22,442 per month as of August (up 119% y/y from TRY10,242 in August 2021), according to a monthly survey by the yellow labour union Turk-Is.
The hunger threshold (minimum food expenditure for a four-person family) stood at TRY6,890 (up 119% y/y) in the month.
The minimum cost of living for a single person was TRY8,999.
24 TURKEY Country Report October 2022 www.intellinews.com