People walk past stores in Istanbul, Turkey, on July 27, 2020. The Turkish economy took an uphill climb with hikes in inflation in June when the government decided to ease the lockdown restrictions imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus. (Photo by Osman Orsal/Xinhua)
by Zeynep Cermen
ISTANBUL, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Melahat Yildirim on Monday was planning to buy a charming outfit for her son for the upcoming Eid al-Adha at an open bazaar in Istanbul that offers affordable shopping opportunities.
"My 15-year-old particularly wants a new pair of shoes for the feast," Yildirim, a resident of the Gultepe neighborhood on the European side of the city, told Xinhua. "But prices of that specific brand start from 300 Turkish liras (44 U.S. dollars), almost twice expensive than the previous year."
Yildirim was working at a private telecommunication company for a minimum wage, which was 2,400 liras (350 dollars) per month.
In March, however, she was obliged to take unpaid leave due to the COVID-19 pandemic, like many other employees of the same company.
"I was earning the same amount last year, and I could buy a decent trouser and a shirt for him, and a pair of shoes of the exact brand that he wanted," she murmured, trying to pick the right sneakers from a large case with a 50 percent sale sign. "Under today's condition, this is simply impossible," she added.
The Turkish economy took an uphill climb with hikes in inflation in June when the government decided to ease the lockdown restrictions imposed to curb the spread of coronavirus.
Turkey's annual inflation climbed to 12.62 percent in June, mainly driven by growing prices in transportation, according to data released by the Turkish Statistical Institute.
"The transportation sector became the price hike champion in June, with a 4.5 percent increase. Both car and ticket prices rose sharply," Mustafa Sonmez, an economy writer, announced on his Twitter account.
Sonmez, the writer of over two dozen books about Turkey's economy and social events, added that the increasing prices of the service sector, which remained closed for almost three months due to the pandemic, also played a decisive role in the rise of the inflation. Prices of restaurants and hotels across the country increased by 2.8 percent in June, data showed.
For a brand manager of a foreign retail company, which has many stores in Istanbul's several upscale shopping malls, upper segment retail brands have been affected severely by the pandemic, volatile economic outlook, and the absence of tourists.
"This year, most of our costumers left Istanbul for their summer houses as soon as the government lifted partial curfews at the beginning of June," she said without giving her name.
"And the rest still do not prefer to enter crowded locations like shopping malls over fears of getting infected with COVID-19," the manager also noted. "We have also lost our Arab tourists, who love shopping. Therefore, our stores did not see any boom in feast shopping this year."
Due to the pandemic, the number of foreign tourists visiting Turkey also plummeted rapidly from March onwards.
According to the latest official data, 21,044 tourists visited the country in June this year, indicating a 96 percent year-on-year decrease. Turkey hosted 45 million tourists last year with a total of 34.5 billion U.S. dollars of revenue.
Hakan Aydin, an owner of a boutique in the crowded Istiklal Avenue, told Xinhua that his business saw the bottom line during the quarantine time when all the shops were closed due to the pandemic.
"Nobody has enough money for shopping these days. I am barely trying to pay the rent of the store," Aydin told Xinhua.
But he is still optimistic for the future, noting that if everything would go on the track and tourists would flock into the country soon, there would be a quick recovery in the economy.
The Eid al-Adha festival will be celebrated at the end of this month across Turkey with four days of holiday.
