As Inflation Soars, Turks Stockpile, Scrimp, and Seek Riskier Bets

Locals and tourists gathered near Istanbul’s Blue Mosque at night. (Credit: Cindy Shan)

At 21, Fatmanur Gultekin isn’t just planning for her future—she’s bracing for it. Standing in her small Istanbul apartment, she recently opened a drawer packed with rows of toothbrush heads, enough to last two years.

This isn’t a quirk or a bulk-sale indulgence; it’s her personal strategy against an economy that demands constant improvisation.

“We don’t save money because it loses its worth,” Gultekin said. “We tend to spend it and stock up. The same product won’t have the same price next week. It feeds consumerism—people buy things even if they don’t need them.”

Gultekin’s shopping habits are part of a nationwide adjustment to Turkey’s economic reality. Inflation, which peaked at an official rate of 75.4% in May, has turned Turkish lira into a volatile currency that feels unreliable in even the shortest term. Ordinary decisions, like buying groceries or paying for a night out, now require calculations that stretch far beyond price tags. For many Turks, the struggle to maintain their standard of living has led to a shift in behavior: spending with urgency, investing with caution, and dreaming with restraint.

“Society looks for alternatives because, mostly, the inflation does not allow you to get real returns when you save your money at deposit accounts,” said Erhan Aslanoğlu, an economics professor at Istanbul Bilgi University. “Even if you receive 50% interest rate annually, maybe next year the inflation would be around 70%, 80%. This means that you’ll be losing a part of your welfare because prices are reaching higher levels compared to your earnings.”

In Adana, Cihan Ekmekçi, a 36-year-old English teacher, keeps a close eye on every lira he spends. A simple pleasure like meeting a friend for coffee now feels extravagant.

“You like to eat out sometimes or have coffee with a friend, but then you realize the same money could buy a large carton of eggs, two bottles of milk, and a kilogram of chicken breasts,” he said. “So you decide not to, because it’s a luxury.”

Rather than keeping his savings in lira, Ekmekçi has opted for what he sees as safer alternatives. “In a high-inflation country like Turkey, you never invest in the local currency,” he explained. “You invest in foreign exchange or gold—there are so many jewelry stores in Turkey because of that. This is considered the safest option.”

But for others, the traditional safety nets of gold, foreign currencies and real estate investments are no longer enough. Cryptocurrencies have emerged as a high-risk, high-reward alternative, appealing to Turks desperate not only to protect their wealth but also to grow it. This shift has transformed Turkey into the world’s fourth-largest crypto market. Between July 2023 and June 2024, Turkey registered $136.8 billion in cryptocurrency transactions, fueled by both individual investors and a growing institutional presence.

A recent survey by Paribu, one of Turkey’s leading crypto exchanges, underscores the shift: while 56% of respondents named gold as their top choice for saving or investing, followed by foreign currency, cryptocurrencies ranked third, preferred by three out of 10 investors—surpassing real estate, which has historically been a cornerstone of Turkish financial security.

This enthusiasm for cryptocurrencies isn’t confined to tech-savvy investors or seasoned traders. It has reached people from all walks of life, including those with little experience in the financial markets. Can Piçak, a 34-year-old crypto entrepreneur in Ankara, shared an encounter with a taxi driver that highlighted this growing trend.

“After telling him I work in the crypto side, the driver immediately asked me which cryptocurrency he should buy,” Piçak recalled. “He told me he wasn’t into the crypto space but wanted to join because the tokens were rising. He said, ‘I have 25,000 lira—maybe I have a chance to make it 100,000 or even 500,000.’ They’re hoping for that kind of return.”

While cryptocurrencies offer hope to many Turks who want to buy a car or a house—dreams that feel unattainable with a normal salary—they also come with significant risks. The volatile nature of digital assets means that the chance to multiply wealth comes with the possibility of losing it all.

The dangers became evident in September 2023 when Faruk Fatih Özer, founder of Turkish crypto exchange Thodex, was sentenced to prison for defrauding investors of $2 billion. Özer had abruptly shut down the trading platform and fled the country with investors’ money in 2021, in what became Turkey’s biggest crypto rugpull.

“A lot of financially illiterate people have joined in, so they were easy to manipulate, ”said Özay Özaydın, 44, an assistant professor in Istanbul. “They had their hopes up, and then a lot of them just went bankrupt.”

Inflation has not only reshaped how Turks approach investments but also how they navigate their aspirations for the future. For young Turks, career prospects and life plans increasingly seem to slip away in the face of mounting economic pressures. Gultekin, approaching graduation, finds herself caught in a difficult cycle to find a job: companies demand additional skills but professional development has become increasingly expensive.

“We need extracurricular activities, new languages, courses and so many social activities and they all have unaffordable prices right now,” she said. “That makes the process even harder.”

For her classmate Zeynep Yildiz, even a modest dream of traveling abroad has become a distant goal. She has been saving for years to visit Germany, but rising costs make it feel like she’s moving backward.

“I thought I’d be closer by now,” said Yildiz. “But every time I check, the prices have gone up again.”

The struggles of the younger generation have pushed many established professionals like Ekmekçi to look beyond Turkey’s borders.

“When you work but can’t get paid enough to fulfill your dreams, your job stops satisfying you,” Ekmekçi said. Like many Turks, he’s now exploring opportunities abroad – not from desire, but necessity. “No one would be willing to leave their beautiful country under the right circumstances.”