STORY: Istanbul's 2023 annual inflation nears 75 percent
SHOOTING TIME: file footage
DATELINE: Jan. 3, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:03
LOCATION: ISTANBUL, Türkiye
CATEGORY: ECONOMY

SHOTLIST:
1. various of Istanbul city in Türkiye
2. various of people walking in the city center in Istanbul, Türkiye
3. various of people shopping in supermarket in Istanbul, Türkiye

STORYLINE:

The annual inflation for retail prices in Türkiye's largest city, Istanbul, reached 74.88 percent year-on-year in 2023, the Istanbul Chamber of Commerce (ITO) reported Tuesday.
   
Data from ITO, one of the world's largest chambers with over 700,000 members, showed that monthly inflation for retail prices in the city of nearly 16 million people increased by 3.52 percent in December.
   
The highest price increases in December were reported for "health and personal care," followed by "culture, education and entertainment" and food products, with 5.15, 5.10, and 4.90 percent hikes respectively.
   
In line with the newly announced data, shops in Kurtulus, one of Istanbul's busiest neighborhoods, were busy on Tuesday changing their products' price tags.
   
"It's getting harder to make a living in Istanbul," a worker at the greengrocer section muttered, declining to give his name.
   
Türkiye has long been struggling against the devaluation of the Turkish lira and persistently high inflation, which hit 61.98 percent in November.
   
Last week, the government increased the monthly minimum wage by 49 percent to 17,002 Turkish liras (578.4 U.S. dollars) starting the first day of 2024 to alleviate people's growing livelihood problem.
   
Meanwhile, millions of civil servants and pensioners across the country are looking forward to the salary increase scheduled to be announced on Wednesday.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Istanbul, Türkiye.
(XHTV)