The depreciation of the Turkish Lira: Today's 200 TL is worth what 20 TL was in 2009

As a result of the AKP government's economic policies, the Turkish Lira is losing value day by day due to the cost of living, high inflation, and exchange rates that keep breaking records.

With the decline in the value of the TL, 200 TL banknotes, the largest denomination, have taken over the market.

As of December 2023, the usage of 200 TL banknotes, which were introduced to the market in January 2009, reached approximately 70 percent. This figure was at the 16 percent level in 2009.

According to the report in Sözcü; the depreciation of the Turkish Lira is revealed by the erosion in the purchasing power of the 200 lira note, the largest banknote.

According to the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey's (TCMB) inflation calculator, 20 TL in 2009 is equivalent to 257 TL today, 10 TL is equivalent to 128 TL today, and 5 TL is equivalent to 64 TL today.

In 2009, the dollar was 1.54 TL, the Euro was 2.14 TL, and a gram of gold was 46.25 TL. At that time, one could buy 129.9 dollars, 93.46 Euros, or 4.3 grams of gold with 200 lira. With 20 lira from 15 years ago, it was possible to buy 12.9 dollars, 9.3 Euros, or about half a gram of gold. Today, one can buy 6.3 dollars or 5.79 Euros with 200 lira. Today, 200 TL can only cover one-tenth of a gram of gold, which has risen to 2 thousand 176 lira.

In 2009, the price of a cola was 2.1 lira and we could buy 95 cans of cola with 200 lira, but today we can only buy 4 cans of cola.

Similarly, in 2009, the price of tea was 11.09 lira, and while we could buy 1.8 kilograms of tea with 20 lira and 18 kilograms of tea with 200 lira, today we can only buy 1 kilogram of tea.

Furthermore, while 33 loaves of bread could be bought with 50 lira until 3 years ago, today only 5 loaves can be bought.