The 2023 report of the Court of Accounts, Turkey’s top government accounting body, saw an unusual lack of irregularities in government-controlled institutions and trustee-appointed municipalities, raising questions about transparency. While nearly no irregularities were found in these entities, certain practices could not be ignored and had to be documented.
Labor and Social Security Minister Vedat Işıkhan recently stated that unpaid social security premiums owed by municipalities are straining the Treasury and announced that these unpaid premiums would now be subject to asset seizures. This primarily targets opposition parties, which gained control of Turkey’s largest cities by population and economic influence after the March local elections. Yet, the Court of Accounts report revealed that social security premiums for the Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) personnel were instead covered by the Treasury.
In its review of TurkStat, the Court of Accounts found that “the payments owed by the institution to the Social Security Institution were instead made by the Treasury and Finance Ministry.” This finding indicates that, unlike previous years, Treasury funds were used to cover TurkStat’s 2022 and 2023 obligations. In response, TurkStat stated that it would have sought funds from the Presidential Directorate of Strategy and Budget to cover these costs if notified of the debt by the Treasury, yet no action was taken, leaving these findings in the audit report.
Staffing and expenses double
The Court of Accounts’ 2022 report recorded 3,868 employees at TurkStat. By 2023, this number had risen to 4,121, marking a 6.5% increase in staffing. Personnel costs surged from approximately 607 million Turkish liras in 2022 to 1.24 billion liras in 2023, a 103% increase (1 US dollar = 34.36 Turkish liras).
TurkStat has long been at the center of public criticism for allegedly manipulating statistics, particularly inflation data, in favor of the government, which has led to lower salary increases. The agency, whose figures are used for determining minimum wage levels, pensions, and rental adjustments, reported annual inflation at 64.27% for 2022, yet minimum wage adjustments for 2023 rose by only 54.66%. Despite an initial budget allocation of 1.24 billion liras, TurkStat received supplementary funds, bringing its total spending to 1.65 billion liras.
Potential impact of influence agency bill
Outside of government funding, TurkStat accessed additional resources in 2023 through the EU’s Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA), amounting to 328,316 euros, or approximately 8.8 million lirass. These funds supported various services, including publications, data sales, and consulting.
The “agents of influence” bill, proposed twice by the ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) but withdrawn each time, would criminalize the acceptance of foreign funds for research, such as the EU’s IPA program, if research findings are published. (Mİ/VK)