Latte calculation from former Chief Economist Hakan Kara: Turkey does not appear excessively expensive compared to the world

Former Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey Chief Economist Prof. Dr. Hakan Kara published a graph on his X (Twitter) account showing Turkey's position in the world based on coffee prices.

The prices in the graph, prepared based on the prices of lattes at Starbucks, which has hundreds of branches in Turkey as well, were reported as of August 1, 2024.

The city where coffee is most expensive in the world is Zurich, Switzerland. It is followed by Copenhagen, Denmark, and New York, USA.

Istanbul, on the other hand, is seen among the cities where a latte is cheapest. Istanbul is the third cheapest city among the cities evaluated. Following Istanbul are Cape Town, the capital of South Africa, and Cairo, the capital of Egypt.

At Starbucks, a small latte is sold for 109 lira, a medium latte for 139 lira, and a large latte for 149 lira.

When looking at coffee prices, despite the rapid increase in recent years, Turkey still does not appear excessively expensive compared to the world. pic.twitter.com/wwcGpD5dkI

— Hakan Kara (@ali_hakan_kara) August 25, 2024

In his subsequent post, Hakan Kara referred to the Big Mac index and stated, "However, we are quite expensive according to Big Mac sandwich prices."

Hakan Kara assessed, "This means one should not make an evaluation based on a single product. The correct approach is to look at a comprehensive real exchange rate index, but unfortunately, questions regarding official price measurements in our country reduce the informational value of the real exchange rate index."

News Source: 12punto