I have a habit that I inherited from my father: I always keep the invoices after I shop, which helps me to keep tack of the monthly, quarterly, and annual cost of living. The invoices show that the prices have suddenly risen in January, such as 20-25% increase in restaurant prices, at least 10-15% increase in food prices, at least 25% in transportation and nearly 10% increase in household goods compared to the previous month.

In economics classes, we teach that the fact that societies with low incomes have high spending rates does not mean they are “consumer societies” but the members of such societies spend too much because their earnings remain too low compared to the high costs of living.

Messages sent to people’s phones over the weekend show that banks that cannot meet the TRY deposit ratio requested by the regulatory authorities offer up to 30% interest for 32-35 days deposits. When I check out the mobile apps of these banks, I see that similarly, they offer the same rate, trying to sell it as "exclusive rate for you". As a matter of fact, it is not exclusive at all, but it is being marketed as exclusive out of necessity.

I was warning about one important thing since the FX volatility hedged-deposit scheme was first introduced. I said, "Interest rates offered by banks for this scheme should not have a ceiling limit. If they have, the entire burden will fall on the Treasury." I think the problem has finally been understood or it has been realised that this instrument can no longer be sustained.

It looks like the European Central Bank will continue to sharply raise its policy rates so as to be able to fight the inflation. Inflation has been a major problem throughout European economic history, and that’s why the European governments tend to make price rises a priority, not the GDP growth.

On Saturday, a housewife called me to ask for some financial advice and I do not have any idea how she got my number. This elderly lady, whose name I don't even know, asked me the same question over and over again, despite I kept giving her the same answer: - I heard that the Treasury will not pay the depositors the amounts arising from volatile exchange rates, so people started to withdraw their TRY deposits from banks. Is this true?

The most essential thing you need to know about countries’ external debt is this: even if the debt-to-GDP ratio is high, a country that pays very low interest amounts is not considered to be at risk. A country with a low debt-to-GDP ratio and very high interest debt is always at more risk than others are. In short, the debt ratio is important, but the interest payments on the debt are more important.

Dear friends, one should not draw conclusions about anything without being completely sure, and not make definite judgments about the observed, experienced and repeating life events. Claims that are not tested in real life should not be presented as absolute truth using mathematics, therefore one should try to be sceptical at all times.

It is a well-known fact that private investments create more value added, higher net taxe revenue and insurance premiums than public investments. The most preferred source of private investments is private savings. Now let’s talk about the person who has made the clearest and simplest definition of this proposition.

Turkey is about to enter a quite exciting process. We expect that a decision to be made at the end of February, announcing the date of the election as April.

From time to time, an old acquaintance of mine reaches out to me on WhatsApp to inquire whether I haven’t still changed my mind about the euro.