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Inflation crisis hits Turkey's retirees hardest of all

According to economists and Turkish seniors' personal accounts, the elderly who suffered most during the COVID-19 pandemic are now being hardest hit by the economic slump.
Elderly people wearing a protective face mask, sit and look at the Bosphorus on May 10, 2020, at Besiktas, Istanbul, after a month and a half of lockdown restrictions aimed at stemming the spread of the novel coronavirus.

ISTANBUL — A recent visit by opposition politicians to a pensioners’ association has highlighted the plight of those hit hardest by Turkey’s highest rate of inflation in two decades.

Retirees across the country have seen their income ravaged by price increases of 36.08% year-on-year, according to official figures. Unofficially, independent economists at ENAGrup, which analyses thousands of prices, put the annual rate at 82.81%.

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