Meriç Köyatası reveals: 'They have stolen 80 percent of retirees' salaries in four years'

Economist and 12punto columnist Meriç Köyatası has revealed the details of his calculations based on inflation data since 2022. Köyatası stated, “They have stolen 80 percent of retirees' salaries in four years.”

The ongoing economic crisis continues to burden citizens and retirees. In addition to the decline in purchasing power, the crisis imposes additional loads on citizens through taxes.

Appearing as a guest on the ‘Anında Manşet’ program broadcast on TELE1, economist and 12punto columnist Meriç Köyatası explained the losses experienced in retirement pensions over the past four years.

Stating that ENAG is the institution that measures real inflation in Turkey, Köyatası said, “I have been measuring inflation since January 2022, and I also measured it back in 1987. This time, I did not make a measurement covering all of Turkey, but rather according to my own basket, and it is running neck-and-neck with the basket measured by ENAG. ENAG's basket overlaps with the basket of TÜİK. Therefore, the inflation rate announced by ENAG is much higher than that of TÜİK.”

According to Köyatası's calculations, while TÜİK's inflation was 427 percent between 2020 and June 2024, ENAG's inflation was 1803 percent. Köyatası noted that the lowest retirement pension in January 2020 was 1,500 liras, while today it is 12,500 liras. According to ENAG data, this salary should have increased 19-fold, which corresponds to 28,500 liras. However, only 43 percent of the current salary is being paid, meaning 57 percent of the retirement pension has evaporated.

Köyatası stated that if retirement pensions were equal to the minimum wage, they should be 44,000 liras, and in that case, 62 percent of the salary would have been lost. He expressed that the amount retirement pensions should have been in 2008 is 61,848 liras, and that 80 percent of the salaries have been stolen.

Köyatası also addressed the effects of retirement pensions on the budget. He noted that while retirement pensions accounted for 5.2 percent of the share taken from the budget in 2008, this rate has fallen to 2.6 percent today. The ratio of the budget deficit to national income has risen from 1.8 percent to 8.8 percent. Köyatası emphasized that this difference is used to increase the budget deficit through savings made on retirement pensions, and that this situation is incompatible with a fair management approach.

Meriç Köyatası stated that the state should strengthen the social security system and create a fiscal policy compatible with technological developments. In this context, he expressed that the state should provide fair social security to retirees and added that 80 percent of retirement pensions have been lost within four years.

News Source: 12punto