Response came after 1 month: TurkStat calls 34 lira examination fee and cafeteria claims 'manipulation'

The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) responded 1 month later to the debates that began after Ekonomim columnist Alaattin Aktaş published a list of items used in inflation calculations.

In his column, Aktaş had used the following expressions: "Do you know how much the specialist doctor examination fee is in June according to TurkStat; 33 lira and 69 kuruş. I did not write it wrong; 33 lira and 69 kuruş, let's round it to 34 lira. A striking example is house rent. In the June index, rent was taken into account as 5 thousand 845 lira."

Furthermore, CHP leader Özgür Özel, reacting to the inflation figures announced by TurkStat, had said: "In the TurkStat cafeteria, the same meal, 4 courses, was 35 lira a year ago; today, how much is the same meal? 170 lira. TurkStat's cafeteria inflation is 385 percent, TurkStat's street inflation is 71 percent."

In a press release titled "Public Announcement Regarding Recent News Reflected in the Public Sphere That Do Not Reflect the Truth," TurkStat described the reports as "manipulation."

TURKSTAT CAFETERIA

Highlights from TurkStat's statements are as follows:

"The claims in the news that the meal fee in the TurkStat cafeteria, which was 35.00 TL last year, has risen to 170.00 TL do not reflect the truth. The fee tariffs approved and implemented by the Institution Presidency for 2024 are as follows:

Lowest meal fee: 39.00 TL for 4/B contracted personnel with an additional indicator up to 600.

Highest meal fee: 71.00 TL for personnel in positions with an additional indicator higher than 5400.

The daily meal allowance paid by the Ministry of Treasury and Finance to worker personnel working under 4/A status at the Institution, in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement signed between the Turkish Statistical Institute and the Turkish Heavy Industry and Service Sector Public Employers' Union (Koop-İş), is 170.00 TL.

Therefore, it is not a correct approach to calculate a rate of change by comparing the meal fee of an employee working in a different position last year with the meal allowance received by personnel working in worker status this year."

34 LIRA SPECIALIST DOCTOR EXAMINATION

TurkStat made the following statement regarding the news about the 34 lira specialist doctor examination fee included in the inflation basket:

"As of 2024, there are 12 main expenditure groups and 43 expenditure groups in the CPI basket. Under these expenditure groups, there are 90 sub-expenditure groups. In the 143 basic headings under the sub-expenditure groups, there are 406 items and 913 item varieties under these items. For example,

Under the 06 coded HEALTH main expenditure group,

061 coded “Medical products, appliances and equipment” expenditure group

062 coded “Outpatient services” expenditure group

063 coded “Inpatient services” expenditure group are located.

In the 062 coded “Outpatient services” expenditure group,

0621 coded “Medical services” sub-expenditure group

0622 coded “Dental services” sub-expenditure group

0623 coded “Other medical services” sub-expenditure group are located.

In the 0621 coded “Medical services” sub-expenditure group,

06212 coded “Specialist doctor fee” basic heading is located.

Under the 06212 coded “Specialist doctor fee” basic heading,

“Examination co-payment (State Hospital, Specialist Dr.)”

“Doctor examination fee (Private Practice, Specialist Dr.)”

“Doctor examination fee (Private Hospital, Specialist Dr.)”

“Medicine co-payment” and other different item varieties are located.

In this context, the rates of change in the CPI basket are published every month at the level of 12 main expenditure groups, 43 expenditure groups, 90 sub-expenditure groups, and 143 basic headings. The most detailed level expected to be published by the European Statistical Office (EUROSTAT) is the basic heading level.

Index changes at the basic heading level are shared with the public by our Institution in the manner most appropriate to international expectations. In this context, TurkStat is one of the most transparent official statistical institutions in the world.

It is claimed by a columnist that some item prices, which were last published by our Institution in April 2022, are being extended with price indices at the basic heading level currently being published by our Institution, and that average price calculations for the present day are being made.

As a result of the aforementioned misleading results being accepted as a tool of manipulation by some circles, it is observed that the relevant circles, who cannot criticize the CPI from a scientific perspective, continue their conscious or unconscious misleading statements regarding a few headings they have cherry-picked from among the 143 basic headings.

In addition to this, the calculation made by the relevant columnist leads to completely erroneous inferences, especially in cases where there is more than one item and item variety under a basic heading. For example, this situation also applies to the “06212-Doctor examination fee” basic heading. This basic heading consists of item varieties that have different expenditure shares in individuals' budgets, such as “Examination co-payment (State, Specialist Dr.)”, “Doctor examination fee (Private, Specialist Dr.)”, “Medicine co-payment”, and “Doctor examination fee (Private Practice, Specialist Dr.)”. State hospital examination co-payments and medicine co-payments have higher expenditure shares compared to other product varieties such as doctor examination fees (private hospital) and doctor examination fees (private practice).

On the other hand, the price and rate of change calculated at the relevant basic heading level do not mathematically express only the change in the specialist doctor examination fee. Therefore, the figures that the relevant columnist calculated by aggregating as if all relevant health services provided by the state and private sector showed change at the same price level, and which they announced as if they were item prices belonging to TurkStat, contain erroneous approaches.

In order to prevent such manipulations, all prices at the item level are not calculated and published in any of the world's leading countries. The debates that have arisen as a result of the attempt to reach item price results by producing incomplete and misleading information by the relevant columnist have once again revealed how accurate the decision of the Turkish Statistical Institute is not to publish the prices of products other than selected homogeneous items, as is the case in EU member and candidate countries, EFTA countries, the USA, and Canada."