'Smallest denomination banknote cannot buy one loaf of bread'

"We are now in a situation where we cannot purchase even one loaf of bread with our smallest denomination banknote," said CHP Manisa MP Bekir Başevirgen. He further stated that the cost of making a new 5 lira banknote has exceeded its value as of 2022, and this cost may have exceeded 10 lira by now.

İstanbul

'Smallest denomination banknote cannot buy one loaf of bread'

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The smallest denomination banknote, 5 Turkish lira (TL), cannot purchase even one bread, said Bekir Başevirgen, CHP Manisa MP and Member of the Committee on Agriculture, Forestry, and Rural Affairs in the Parliament.

Speaking about the devaluation of the Turkish lira, Başevirgen said, "Since the decision to remove six zeros from the TL came into effect on January 1, 2005, the 5 million lira banknote was replaced by 5 lira banknotes. As a result, the price of bread, 300,000 lira at the time, had become 30 kuruş. In 2005, you could buy 16.66 loaves of bread with 5 million lira."

Başevirgen explained how purchasing power of the lira gradually decreased in the following years.

"To give you an idea, with 5 lira that used to buy 16.66 loaves of bread in 2005, you were able to buy 2.5 loaves of bread in 2021", he said.

"Five lira was equal to the price for a 210-gram loaf last year in 2022, but with the recent increase making the price 7 lira for a 200-gram loaf, you can now only buy 0.7 loaves of bread with the banknote," the MP informed.

"What's even worse is that there is a high likelihood that the price of bread of the same weight might exceed 10 lira by the end of the year," he added.

"Cost of money exceeds its value"

Başevirgen also stated that the cost of the 5 lira banknote in 2022 was 6.78 lira.

"Considering the cost increases that have occurred since last year, this figure may have even exceeded 10 lira," he added. (HA/PE)