Turkey cheaper than Europe but cars, booze, tobacco remain expensive

ANKARA

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Turkey is more expensive than a few European countries but it remains cheaper than a majority of the continent, according to a new comparative purchasing power parity index released June 19 by the Turkish Statistics Institute (TÜİK).

However, car prices stood above European levels, as did the prices of alcoholic beverages, tobacco and consumer electronics.

The price level index for consumer goods and services in Turkey is 61, the study said. The index is an indicator of purchasing power of national currencies according to currency conversion rates. If a country’s price level index is higher than 100, the country concerned is relatively “expensive;” alternatively, a number lower than 100 indicates that it is relatively “cheap” against the other countries in the group.

The figure of 61 indicates that the same basket of goods and services that can be purchased for 100 euros in the 28 members of the EU, as well as other regional countries, can be purchased for 61 euros in Turkey.

The country groups included in the comparison were the 28 members of the EU, three European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries (Switzerland, Iceland and Norway), five candidate countries (Turkey, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Albania) and one potential candidate country (Bosnia and Herzegovina).

Switzerland had the highest price level index at 154, whereas Macedonia had the lowest at 47 among the 37 countries included in the comparison program.

For sub-groups of consumer goods and services, Turkey had the highest price level index in the personal transport equipment sub-group at 110, meaning that Turkey was 10 percent more expensive than the EU average.

In other sub-groups, the price level indices of Turkey were comparatively higher than other groups for alcoholic beverages and tobacco and for consumer electronics indices at 87. On the other hand, Turkey’s price level index was lower than other groups for clothing at 63 and restaurants and hotels at 74.