Inflation Forces Turkey's Central Bank Chief To Move In With Parents
The head of Turkey's central bank, unable to afford an Istanbul home, moves in with her parents
Hafize Gaye Erkan, the new head of the central bank of Turkey, was forced to move back in with her parents due to rising living expenses, especially housing costs in Istanbul.
The 44-year-old, who started her job in June after spending 20 years in the US, told the Hurriyet newspaper that she was driven out of Istanbul's real estate market by the city's extreme inflation.
“We haven't found a home in Istanbul. It's terribly expensive. We've moved in with my parents,” she said.
Erkan, who has worked for companies like Goldman Sachs and First Republic Bank in the past, is currently receiving a crash course in the skyrocketing costs that have made it difficult for many young people to find housing.
“Is it possible that Istanbul has gotten more expensive than Manhattan?” she said.
November saw 61 percent annual inflation as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan permitted the lira to depreciate while announcing that a fresh group of Wall Street-experienced economists would take on the years-long economic crisis.
Officials also set a 25 percent cap on rent increases in an attempt to calm mounting resentment, but experts claim this has only made tensions in housing worse as landlords attempt to forcibly remove tenants in order to raise rents.
In an effort to curb inflation, the central bank raised benchmark lending rates to 40% last month.
“We're nearing the end of our monetary tightening measures,” Erkan told the paper
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