The economic crisis, which has been felt in our country recently and whose impact is increasing day by day, has caused our nation to face a heavy cost of living problem.
We continue to experience a period in which everything we use in our daily life, especially basic necessities, is increased on a weekly or even daily basis. Probably due to the fact that the general election is a short time away, the dissatisfaction caused by the high cost of living among our citizens will have drawn the attention of the ruling party officials. In July, statements began to be heard that a salary increase of around 40% would be made for wage earners, especially those with minimum wage, in order to combat the cost of living.
However, it should be stated that; This step is a necessary but incomplete one to combat the cost of living. If the aim is to combat the high cost of living reflected on our citizens, simply increasing wages will not be enough. Namely; There will be no point in increasing wages if the price increases caused by inflation, which will increase as a result of wage increases, will make it even more difficult for people to reach their needs.
For this reason, the main thing is to increase the purchasing power of the citizens rather than increasing wages. Otherwise, even if you increase the wages perceptually at high rates, the purchasing power of the citizens will decrease, and there will be no result other than being crushed more by the cost of living.
We can exemplify this situation with the minimum wage, which should provide a minimum level of living, but set well below the hunger limit in our country, and the change in bread, which is the most basic need material, in the last year. While the net minimum wage was 2,850 TL in 2021, bread prices were 2 TL. A citizen working with the minimum wage could buy 1412.5 loaves of bread with his salary last year. At the beginning of 2022, the minimum wage was increased by more than 50% and the net minimum wage was brought to the level of 4,250 TL.
However, in the inflationary environment triggered by the economic crisis after the New Year, bread prices reached the level of 4 TL. The number of bread that a minimum wage earner can buy with his salary has decreased to 1,062,5. Despite the increase of more than 50%, the purchasing power of the minimum wage worker has decreased and 350 breads have been lost from their table. As in the example we mentioned above, increasing wages is not enough to protect our citizens against the cost of living.
While increasing wages on the one hand, purchasing power should be increased by measures such as reducing costs and increasing production on the other. Otherwise, the wage increases in July will not be enough, and the bread on the table of the citizens will continue to decrease. It can be asked whether it is possible to keep inflation under control while increasing wages. An example of this situation was experienced during the Refahyol government.
During the 11-month Refahyol government, wage increases were provided to wage earners, which are unmatched in the history of the Republic, and an uncontrolled rise in inflation was prevented, despite the extraordinary conditions of February 28, resulting in a net increase in purchasing power. In other words, it is possible to increase the real purchasing power if desired and the right approach is taken.
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Theoretically, if the currency of a country is constantly depreciating, it is expected that exports will increase and imports will decrease in that country. There was already a defense regarding the new economic model, which started to be implemented in November 2021 and which was shown as hope by the ruling circles, as the TL was depreciating, but as a result of this situation, we would import less and fill the supply gap with our own production.
However, things did not go according to theory and propaganda. Despite the constant depreciation of our currency after the intervention in foreign currency in December 2021, which we stated will have a short-term effect, our imports also continued to increase rapidly. In the January-May period of 2022, our exports increased by 20.9% compared to the same period of the previous year and reached 102.504 billion TL, while our imports increased by 40.4% compared to the same period of the previous year and reached 145.737 billion TL.
This is a clear indication that we have reached a frightening level in foreign dependency. Unfortunately, our country has become outsourced to a wide range of products ranging from the most basic necessities to high-tech products.
If we do not increase production by directing our resources to investments that will create added value, and if we do not reach a position to produce high value-added products by providing value-added transformation in production, we will experience more foreign exchange shocks due to the ever-increasing need for foreign exchange, and on the other hand, we will continue to break import records. May God make our fate good.