Hafize Gaye Erkan Turkey Head of Central Bank.
The recent appointee to head Turkey’s central bank revealed that soaring inflation has made it financially challenging for her to afford property in Istanbul. Consequently, the former finance executive has been compelled to move back in with her parents.
“We haven’t found a home in Istanbul. It’s terribly expensive. We’ve moved in with my parents,” 44-year-old Hafize Gaye Erkan, who took up her post in June after two decades in the United States, told the Hurriyet newspaper.
Erkan, who has previous experience at firms such as Goldman Sachs and First Republic Bank, is now gaining firsthand experience in dealing with the skyrocketing prices that have made it difficult for many young individuals to secure affordable accommodations.
“Is it possible that Istanbul has gotten more expensive than Manhattan?” she said.
As of November, year-on-year inflation reached 61 percent, with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan allowing the lira currency to weaken. He pledged that a new team of economists with Wall Street experience would address years of economic crisis.
In response to escalating public discontent, authorities capped rent increases at 25 percent. However, experts argue that this has intensified housing tensions as property owners attempt to displace occupants, sometimes through fraudulent means, to establish new and higher rents.
In an effort to curb inflation, the central bank increased benchmark lending rates to 40 percent last month.
“We’re nearing the end of our monetary tightening measures,” Erkan told the paper.