'Poverty Line' and Food Prices Increase Amid Pandemic

Photo: AA

Click to read the article in Turkish

For a four-member family, the starvation line is 2,374 Turkish lira (1 US dollar = 6.98 lira) and the poverty line is 7,732 lira as of April 2020, according to the monthly survey by the Confederation of Turkish Trade Unions (Türk-İş).

"Starvation line" is the minimum amount of money a four-member family needs for healthy, balanced and sufficient nutrition. "Poverty line" is the total amount of a four-member family's compulsory expenditures, which includes housing, transportation, education and health and so on.

The monthly "living cost" of a single, childless person is 2,883 lira, the survey found. The minimum wage is 2,374 lira in Turkey.

Compared to the end of last year, a family's expenditure on food increased by 211 lira and for basic needs increased by 688 lira.

The minimum food expenditure of a family of four living in Ankara, the capital, has increased by 1.23 percent compared to the previous month.

CLICK - Hotel Worker: We are Put on Unpaid Leave, Now We Don't Even Have Money for Shopping

As of the first four months of the year, the increase in food prices was 9.77 percent. As of the last 12 months, the rate of increase in food prices was 12.68 percent.

"Widespread unemployment and insufficient income worsen the living conditions of the poor," the Türk-İş said.

The coronavirus pandemic would have a profound effect on poor and lower-income people, it said, considering that many economic activities have been halted due to measures, layoffs have increased and workers put on unpaid leave receive only half of the minimum salary from the government.

"In this epidemic period, the protection of wages and providing income support to those in need are becoming more and more important," the confederation said. (HA/VK)