CHP spokesperson criticizes gov’t over economic policies

ANKARA

Republican People’s Party (CHP) spokesperson Faik Öztrak on June 7 slammed the government’s economic policies and criticized President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for “interfering” with the Central Bank.

In the past three years, four Central Bank governors were changed and nearly 100 managers of the organization were dismissed with a single decision, Öztrak said at a press conference on June 7.

“Governments in no country in the world can get their hands on the Central Bank so rudely. Because Central Banks are an institution of reputation all over the world,” Öztrak said.

They have independence so that a politician’s hand does not interfere with the day-to-day running of the bank, he said, noting that this is how stability is achieved in interest, foreign exchange and inflation.

Öztrak criticized a recent interview by Erdoğan in which he called for interest rate cuts in the next two months and said he spoke to the central bank’s new governor about it.

Öztrak said the inflation that the people are suffering is different than the official data given by the Turkish Statistical Institute (TÜİK).

“Neither the TÜİK nor the Treasury can hide the truth of the street anymore. There is a difference between the inflation experienced by the nation and the inflation of the TÜIK,” he stated.

Erdoğan gives news of new natural gas reserves, but “every time he gives the good news, natural gas prices see an increase after a hike,” Öztrak stated.