Ali Babacan's assessment on minimum wage: 'They are incurring the wrath of the poor'

DEVA Party Chairman Ali Babacan criticized the policies implemented by the government to combat inflation and made assessments regarding the minimum wage. Stating "They are incurring the wrath of the poor," Babacan pointed out that the current minimum wage is below the hunger threshold. 

Babacan criticized the economic management followed to combat inflation with the following words: 

“You cannot build an economy by incurring the wrath of the poor. They are incurring the wrath of the poor. When they took over, inflation was 38% Nagehan Hanım… When this new economic management took over in May, June 2023, inflation was 38%. It is currently 47%. So, where is it? Where is the success? You know, there was a statement by Putin recently. His team is giggling. Believe me, I was very saddened. Can such a thing happen? The head of state of another country is mocking us. He says, ‘Yes,’ he says, ‘they lowered inflation. It dropped from 80 to 50.’ And his team is giggling. Can such a thing happen?”

'MINIMUM WAGE IS BELOW THE HUNGER THRESHOLD'

Babacan used the following expressions: “It has become very, very difficult to earn money honestly, with sweat and hard work in Turkey. The minimum wage is currently below the hunger threshold. I mean, what does minimum wage mean? It means the minimum money required for a family to survive. It means the wage that will ensure a family's minimum livelihood, including rent, clothing, food, and school expenses. Is it like that right now? The minimum wage is not even enough for food expenses right now. I mean, add up the food expenses of a family of four, and you see food expenses of over 20 thousand liras alongside the 17 thousand lira minimum wage.” 

Addressing the government's frequent statements and steps regarding 'austerity', Babacan said, “They expect austerity from everyone, right? They expect sacrifice. They tell young people, ‘Smoke a little less,’ or something like that, ‘Reduce your consumption of this,’ and so on, ‘then save money from there.’ Well, as the state, where have you saved money so far?” 

Babacan continued his words as follows: 

"You asked what our solution is, well, all of our solutions are here, look, the remedy (DEVA) for Turkey. If you want austerity, what will you do in the state? You will change the Public Procurement Legislation, that is, the public tender law, from top to bottom. There is a common public procurement legislation currently applied by 28 countries in the European Union. Bring it to Turkey, see how everything costs less. Fiscal discipline, but at the same time transparency, openness. These friends know that this business can only be fixed with transparency and trust. So why can't you be transparent? I am calling out from here. ‘Look, you can fix this economy with transparency. You can fix it with transparency and trust. You don't have to cover up anyone's mistakes. All kinds of mistakes may have been made before, during the son-in-law's era. TURKSTAT may have lied. But if you want to build trust today, make TURKSTAT transparent.’”

News Source: 12punto