Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sacked the head of the national statistical institute after reports of tension between them over the country’s inflation data.
A decree published in the country’s official gazette early on Saturday morning announced the removal of Sait Erdal Dincer, after the official rate of inflation reached a 19-year high of 36 per cent in December. He had served just 10 months in the role.
He was replaced by Erhan Cetinkaya, who was previously a vice-chair of the country’s banking regulator.
Erdogan, a life-long opponent of high interest rates, rejects the economic orthodoxy that raising interest rates helps to curb inflation, arguing that low rates will usher in price stability.
He ordered the central bank to cut interest rates four times in the final months of last year and the Turkish lira plummeted in value.
The removal of Dincer comes after weeks of speculation in the Turkish media about friction between him and Erdogan over the rising official inflation rate.
At the same time, TurkStat has come under heavy pressure from opposition parties, who have accused it of manipulating the data to show inflation at an artificially low rate.
Dincer rejected that claim earlier this month. “With the inflation data, I have a responsibility to 84m people,” he told the Turkish business newspaper Dunya. “If I sign off on an error, I will do an injustice to 84m people. As you know, millions of workers get a pay rise on the basis of the inflation that we announce. To tamper with those people’s incomes, to deprive them of their rights . . . I would not do that.”
The agency is due to announce January’s inflation rate on February 3.
Nureddin Nebati, the country’s finance minister, reportedly told a meeting of economists in Istanbul last weekend that he expected inflation to peak at 40 per cent in the months ahead.
Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank, forecasts annual consumer price inflation will have reached 48 per cent in January. Erdogan also accepted the resignation of his justice minister, Abdulhamit Gul, according to the official gazette. He replaced him with Bekir Bozdag, who has served two previous stints in the role.
Was his name Hari Seldon? Getting Foundation vibes here.
I’m sure things will get better after this. Maybe he has to try again another time just to be safe.
No statistics, no problem!
Wonder how long Dincer is allowed to keep his tongue…
so the trukish lira is going to drop again
Who needs statistics when wheelbarrows of cash are needed?
Just get rid of the bearer of bad news! Problem solved!
Time to invade someone so that people forget how much you have f*cked up right? I feel so sorry for Turkey, hopefully you’ll get rid of that Sultan-aspiring madman.
By this time who hasn’t he sacked. If he continues like this there won’t be a Turk left in any office or job to be sacked by the end of the year.
To me this situation is such a great argument against populism – a very clear instance of how one man’s pigheadedness can decimate an economy. “What’s that economists? I need to raise interest rates to combat inflation? No…the opposite!”
I know there are other arguments to be had against populism, but most people don’t want a decimated economy.
can´t have inflation if you can´t measure it
​
on the other hand, this might be a genius move to start reducing cost. yeah, just kidding
What are they even doing lol
So argentine this 😭😭😭😭
Getting the Zoidberg vibes here:
**Your statistics is bad and you should feel bad!**
Erdogan will cancel inflation
Sacking people who tell you uncomfortable but important truths won’t end well.
When you shoot the messenger instead of addressing the problem. February will be a bad month for Turkey.
The Turkish president can go sack himself.
You have failed me for the last time, Admiral
The sick man of Europe 2: electric boogaloo
What is Erdogan thinking ? He isn’t an idiot, there *has* to be some logic behind this madness.
Can’t have bad statistics if you don’t have any statistics.
A bit like in Berlin, where they don’t do statistics about religious mobbing in schools anymore.
23 comments
Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sacked the head of the national statistical institute after reports of tension between them over the country’s inflation data.
A decree published in the country’s official gazette early on Saturday morning announced the removal of Sait Erdal Dincer, after the official rate of inflation reached a 19-year high of 36 per cent in December. He had served just 10 months in the role.
He was replaced by Erhan Cetinkaya, who was previously a vice-chair of the country’s banking regulator.
Erdogan, a life-long opponent of high interest rates, rejects the economic orthodoxy that raising interest rates helps to curb inflation, arguing that low rates will usher in price stability.
He ordered the central bank to cut interest rates four times in the final months of last year and the Turkish lira plummeted in value.
The removal of Dincer comes after weeks of speculation in the Turkish media about friction between him and Erdogan over the rising official inflation rate.
At the same time, TurkStat has come under heavy pressure from opposition parties, who have accused it of manipulating the data to show inflation at an artificially low rate.
Dincer rejected that claim earlier this month. “With the inflation data, I have a responsibility to 84m people,” he told the Turkish business newspaper Dunya. “If I sign off on an error, I will do an injustice to 84m people. As you know, millions of workers get a pay rise on the basis of the inflation that we announce. To tamper with those people’s incomes, to deprive them of their rights . . . I would not do that.”
The agency is due to announce January’s inflation rate on February 3.
Nureddin Nebati, the country’s finance minister, reportedly told a meeting of economists in Istanbul last weekend that he expected inflation to peak at 40 per cent in the months ahead.
Goldman Sachs, the US investment bank, forecasts annual consumer price inflation will have reached 48 per cent in January. Erdogan also accepted the resignation of his justice minister, Abdulhamit Gul, according to the official gazette. He replaced him with Bekir Bozdag, who has served two previous stints in the role.
Was his name Hari Seldon? Getting Foundation vibes here.
I’m sure things will get better after this. Maybe he has to try again another time just to be safe.
No statistics, no problem!
Wonder how long Dincer is allowed to keep his tongue…
so the trukish lira is going to drop again
Who needs statistics when wheelbarrows of cash are needed?
Just get rid of the bearer of bad news! Problem solved!
Time to invade someone so that people forget how much you have f*cked up right? I feel so sorry for Turkey, hopefully you’ll get rid of that Sultan-aspiring madman.
By this time who hasn’t he sacked. If he continues like this there won’t be a Turk left in any office or job to be sacked by the end of the year.
To me this situation is such a great argument against populism – a very clear instance of how one man’s pigheadedness can decimate an economy. “What’s that economists? I need to raise interest rates to combat inflation? No…the opposite!”
I know there are other arguments to be had against populism, but most people don’t want a decimated economy.
can´t have inflation if you can´t measure it
​
on the other hand, this might be a genius move to start reducing cost. yeah, just kidding
What are they even doing lol
So argentine this 😭😭😭😭
Getting the Zoidberg vibes here:
**Your statistics is bad and you should feel bad!**
Erdogan will cancel inflation
Sacking people who tell you uncomfortable but important truths won’t end well.
When you shoot the messenger instead of addressing the problem. February will be a bad month for Turkey.
The Turkish president can go sack himself.
You have failed me for the last time, Admiral
The sick man of Europe 2: electric boogaloo
What is Erdogan thinking ? He isn’t an idiot, there *has* to be some logic behind this madness.
Can’t have bad statistics if you don’t have any statistics.
A bit like in Berlin, where they don’t do statistics about religious mobbing in schools anymore.