According to data from the Turkish Statistical Office, among the most affected sectors there are transport, where prices have increased by 107.6% on an annual basis and food (+91.6%), while, due to the drop in consumption, clothing and footwear have increased less (+29.80%), but the price of finished leather for shoe uppers has increased by 40%
It's Turkey's highest level of inflation since 1998, a year before the country adopted a comprehensive IMF-backed disinflation program.
Industry observers in Turkey have said the price in the domestic market of finished leather for shoe uppers has increased by 40% in the last four months. They have pointed out that the effects of this are already noticeable in the prices Turkish consumers are having to pay for footwear and other finished products made from leather.
Tanners have said higher prices for imported leather chemicals and for transportation are the main reasons, but have pointed out that devaluation of the local currency, the lira, against the dollar and the euro have made the situation even more challenging.
Turkey's central bank has refused to raise interest rates despite inflation, keeping them unchanged for over five months.
President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is particularly opposed to the measure, saying in late May: “Those who try to impose on us a link between the benchmark rate and inflation are either illiterates or traitors."
