Wine up 15% in a day, chicken by 10%. The price we are paying for Turkey's currency collapse

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Istanbul’s sky is as gloomy as the mood in the households and on the streets of Turkey.

It may look like business as usual but for many the recent developments have taken a toll.

Prices had already hiked during the pandemic. Packaged goods shrunk and prices increased but there was not a single empty shelf. Compared to the western world, Turks prided themselves with not having to fight for toilet paper or masks.

But today the recent change in interest rates policy and the unorthodox economic strategy is impacting the exchange rate sinking the national currency to an all time low. Turks may not earn their wages in foreign currency but their currency is melting like ice on a summer day and prices increase by the week.

It feels like it is nearly every day.

A bottle of wine I bought the day before had increased by 15%. It is hard to keep up.

The Twitter universe is joking about a new trending profession, “price taggers”. They are needed to get prices up to date in all shops and supermarkets.

Ibrahim Koksal is a tiny shop owner in Yeniköy. He has a tiny “bodega” store that sells as many items as possible from cigarettes to batteries as well as fast food he cooks on the go. Running from his food stall to his cashiers’ desk all with a smile.

He has been a small shop owner since 1993 and admits the price increases have hit him, his household and his business as well as his customers.

“I cannot reflect the 10% increase from this morning on the chicken and cheese I use in my sandwiches.

“Because the business is so slow, it would scare off my last customers,” he tells me very honestly. “I have to create some turnover but I am losing from my profit”.