Lira Collapse Leaves Turks Bewildered, Opposition Angry

People change money at a currency exchange office in Istanbul, Turkey November 23, 2021. (Reuters)
People change money at a currency exchange office in Istanbul, Turkey November 23, 2021. (Reuters)
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Lira Collapse Leaves Turks Bewildered, Opposition Angry

People change money at a currency exchange office in Istanbul, Turkey November 23, 2021. (Reuters)
People change money at a currency exchange office in Istanbul, Turkey November 23, 2021. (Reuters)

Anxious Turks struggled to keep up with a bewildering collapse in their currency and the main opposition party leader said the country was experiencing its darkest "catastrophe" as the lira slumped 15% on Tuesday against the dollar.

Tuesday's meltdown follows weeks of steep falls in the lira which have already driven up prices, leaving ordinary Turks reconsidering everything from their holiday plans to weekly grocery shopping.

"There has not been such a catastrophe in the history of the Republic," said Kemal Kilicdaroglu, leader of the opposition Republican People's Party, blaming the currency freefall on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who has led the country since 2003.

"At this point, you are a fundamental national security problem for the Republic of Turkey," Kilicdaroglu said.

Erdogan has pressured the central bank to slash interest rates in a move he says will boost exports, investment and jobs, but which critics say will further fuel double-digit inflation and erode the lira, cutting deeply into Turks' earnings.

Shoppers at a central Ankara mall said they could not take their eyes off the lira rate, which plunged as far as 13.45 to the dollar on Tuesday. A year ago it was 8 to the dollar, last month it reached 9 and last week it hit 10.

"I've become unable to work without following the dollar," said 28-year-old advertising agency worker Selin.

"I don't think there is a single day where I don't have to watch my budget, and the calculation changes 100 times by the time I get next month's salary. There is nothing left, including toilet paper, that I buy without thinking carefully."

Former prime minister Ahmet Davutoglu, a founding member of Erdogan's ruling, Islamist-rooted AK Party before breaking away to form his own party, described the president's economic measures as "treason and not ignorance".

Kilicdaroglu, Davutoglu and some other opposition leaders have announced emergency meetings to discuss the currency after Tuesday's crash - the lira's second biggest fall ever.

'We are sinking'
Turks took to social media to express dismay. Top trending topics on Twitter were dominated by hashtags on the economy including "We are sinking", "Government resign" and "We cannot make ends meet".

In the southeastern city of Diyarbakir, shop owners burned what appeared to be fake dollars on the street in a symbolic gesture of protest, saying: "We cannot sleep, we don't know about our future."

Several people who spoke to Reuters said that as soon as they received their salaries or pensions, they converted them into foreign currency.

"I have asked for an advance on my monthly salary just to convert it into dollars so that I can maintain some sense of value in my earnings," said Emirhan Metin, 28, a lawyer in Istanbul. "It's nearly impossible to focus or talk about anything else at this point."

Haluk, a 36-year-old freelance film editor, said he was often paid with a lag of six to eight months. "So the contract I signed last month is worth 20% less today. Who knows how much it will be worth when I get paid six months from now?"

Doruk Akpek, CEO at a menstrual hygiene brand startup, said he tried to keep his savings in dollars and crypto-currency, but added the situation was tougher for those who only had lira.

"There is also a psychological unhappiness, you see the country collapsing in front of your eyes. It impacts the morale and motivation of people," Akpek said.



Crops Wither in Sudan as Power Cuts Cripple Irrigation

FILED - 27 August 2024, Sudan, Omdurman: Young people walk along a street marked by destruction in Sudan. Photo: Mudathir Hameed/dpa
FILED - 27 August 2024, Sudan, Omdurman: Young people walk along a street marked by destruction in Sudan. Photo: Mudathir Hameed/dpa
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Crops Wither in Sudan as Power Cuts Cripple Irrigation

FILED - 27 August 2024, Sudan, Omdurman: Young people walk along a street marked by destruction in Sudan. Photo: Mudathir Hameed/dpa
FILED - 27 August 2024, Sudan, Omdurman: Young people walk along a street marked by destruction in Sudan. Photo: Mudathir Hameed/dpa

Hatem Abdelhamid stands amid his once-thriving date palms in northern Sudan, helpless as a prolonged war-driven power outage cripples irrigation, causing devastating crop losses and deepening the country's food crisis.

"I've lost 70 to 75 percent of my crops this year," he said, surveying the dying palms in Tanqasi, a village on the Nile in Sudan's Northern State.

"I'm trying really hard to keep the rest of the crops alive," he told AFP.

Sudan's agricultural sector -- already battered by a two-year conflict and economic crisis -- is now facing another crushing blow from the nationwide power outages.

Since the war between the regular army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces began in April 2023, state-run power plants have been repeatedly targeted, suffering severe damage and ultimately leaving farms without water.

Like most Sudanese farms, Abdelhamid's depends on electric-powered irrigation -- but the system has been down "for over two months" due to the blackouts.

Sudan had barely recovered from the devastating 1985 drought and famine when war erupted again in 2023, delivering a fresh blow to the country's agriculture.

Agriculture remains the main source of food and income for 80 percent of the population, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).

Now in its third year, the conflict has plunged more than half the population into acute food insecurity, with famine already taking hold in at least five areas and millions more at risk across conflict-hit regions in the west, center and south.

The war has also devastated infrastructure, killed tens of thousands of people, and displaced 13 million.

A 2024 joint study by the United Nations Development Programme and the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) found that nearly a third of rural households have lost irrigation and water access since the war began.

Without electricity to power his irrigation system, Abdelhamid -- like thousands of farmers across the country -- was forced to rely on diesel-powered pumps.

But with fuel scarce and prices now more than 20 times higher than before the war, even that option is out of reach for many.

"I used to spend 10,000 Sudanese pounds (about four euros according to the black market rate) for irrigation each time," said another farmer, Abdelhalim Ahmed.

"Now it costs me 150,000 pounds (around 60 euros) because there is no electricity," he told AFP.

Ahmed said he has lost three consecutive harvests -- including crops like oranges, onions, tomatoes and dates.

With seeds, fertilizers and fuel now barely available, many farmers say they won't be able to replant for the next cycle.

In April, the FAO warned that "below average rainfall" and ongoing instability were closing the window to prevent further deterioration.

A June study by IFPRI also projected Sudan's overall economic output could shrink by as much as 42 percent if the war continues, with the agricultural sector contracting by more than a third.

"Our analysis shows massive income losses across all households and a sharp rise in poverty, especially in rural areas and among women," said Khalid Siddig, a senior research fellow at IFPRI.