Featured Cyprus Economy

Life in Cyprus is generally tough!

by Voice Cyprus News7 July 2023

Living standards on both sides of Cyprus are tough due to high prices, it has been reported.
The increase in the inflation rates and the depreciation of the Turkish lira day by day in the north of Cyprus is causing hardship among the public.
According to Kıbrıs Postası news, the failure of finding a solution to the economic problems in the country is leading to difficult circumstances.
The highest peak of the level of exchange rates being reached in history is shown to be the main reason for the economic crisis.
The rate of the cost of living for the past year has reached 65.45%, it has been reported.
To summarize the situation, the current minimum wage no longer supports families to maintain normal living standards. The difference in the hunger threshold of the minimum wage should be an increase of at least 2,654 TL, essential for the cost of living.
The unemployment rate determined as 6.3 per cent by the North Cyprus Statistical Institute in 2022 and which is expected to exceed 10 per cent by this year, proves that impoverishment in the country has not been overcome.
Economist Mehmet Saydam who spoke on economic causes of impoverishment, which is a means of trauma in society, explained that the depreciation of the Turkish Lira against the foreign currency was the main reason for impoverishment. To prevent the current social impoverishment, Saydam stated that future measures and reforms are essential in many fields from education to health.
Evaluating the sociological effects of impoverishment, sociologist Hakan Gündüz noted that the economic structure is influenced by the sociological characteristics of a country.
Stating that the flow of migration to North Cyprus has changed the demographic structure of the population, Gündüz noted that a healthy economic relationship cannot be expected in such a demographic structure.
Specialist Psychologist, head of the Cyprus Turkish Psychologists Association Eşmen Tatlıcalı spoke on the psychological disorders caused by impoverishment.
Expressing that being financially deprived is closely related to mental illnesses, Specialist Psychologist Tatlıcalı stated that poverty is an immense psychological deficiency.
Head of the Cyprus Turkish Public Civil Servant’s Union (KTAMS) Güven Bengihan, who regularly shares the figures of the hunger threshold with the public, pointed out that the Turkish Cypriot people are getting poorer day by day. Reminding that the minimum wage is even below the hunger threshold limit, Bengihan stated that the government has remained idle in implementing a strategy to prevent impoverishment.

THE COST OF LIVING REMAINS HIGH IN SOUTH CYPRUS

Meanwhile, the public in South Cyprus are also concerned over the cost-of-living mounting, despite state assurances that the ending of relief measures was warranted and necessary.
According to Cyprus Mail, consumers fear that the recent abolition of the energy subsidies for the vast majority of households and the 8.3 cents per litre increase in petrol will bring a renewed wave of price hikes on items of which production and distribution are linked to electricity and fuel costs.
According to the head of the consumer association Marios Droushiotis, prices of food and other items have slightly dropped.
“However, this does not mean people can afford the current prices which have risen to extremely high levels. A big proportion of the public is struggling,” Droushiotis told Alphanews.
Although the rate of inflation is continuing to decline the cost of food items has remained high, according to the consumer index report.
Figures on annual prices for March announced on Thursday by the state statistical services, confirm the problem, as prices of food and other supermarket items have not fallen, and on the contrary, higher prices seem to have become embedded.
According to the consumer price index the cost of sugar, in particular, has rocketed, with a 61 per cent increase observed in March 2023, compared with March last year.
The average cost increase of dairy products has risen by 12 per cent, compared to the previous annual jump of 3.8 per cent. Specifically, the cost of yoghurt has risen by 15.7 per cent.
Bread and cereals have risen by 10.7 per cent and baked goods by 11.6 per cent (of which the year’s annual increase was 9.6 per cent).
Despite this, a steady decrease in inflation has been reported, from 10.9 per cent in July 2022 to 5.8 per cent in March 2023.

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