Union: family of four bread line is 5,774TL

THE minimum amount of money needed for a family of four to have a nutritious diet has reached 5,774TL a month, a union has claimed.

The Cyprus Turkish Civil Servants Union (KTAMS) calculated the figure as of December 31.

In a written statement, KTAMS chief Güven Bengihan explained that the figure was based on a report the union prepared by using the “healthy nutritional model necessary for a family of four” based on Health Ministry data, and the average prices of goods according to the Statistical Institute’s December inflation bulletin.

According to their study, Mr Bengihan said that the minimum “food expenditure” amount for an adult woman to have a healthy diet is 48.76TL per day and 1,462.80TL per month; for an adult male it is 51.54TL per day and 1546.20TL per month; for a teenager aged between 15 and 19 the figures are 54.97TL per day and 1,649.10TL per month; and for a child aged four to six the amount needed is 37.19TL per day and 1,115.70TL per month.

Mr Bengihan noted that the net monthly minimum wage set by the Minimum Wage Determination Commission in effect at the time the report was prepared was 4,324TL, which is 1,450TL below the KTAMS breadline.

He pointed out that the law stipulates the minimum wage must be “sufficient” to provide “adequate nutrition, housing, clothing, electricity and heating, transportation, modern healthcare services, education, culture, recreation, entertainment and similar basic needs” for a worker, their spouse and one or two

children. Mr Bengihan said that “as a result of the Turkish lira’s depreciation, the minimum wage has decreased to [the equivalent of] £238” as of January 6, the date the report was published.

Pointing to official inflation figures that showed prices rose by 15.16 per cent between November and December 2021, and 46.09 per cent from December 2020 to December 2021 – the highest levels for around two decades – Mr Bengihan said that sky-high hikes in the prices of fuel, bottled gas, bread, milk and dairy products in particular have “broken the backs of the people”.

“Under these conditions, not even public and private sector employees and their families, never mind minimum wage earners, have the opportunity to eat healthily,” he added.

“Instead of taking measures to protect the purchasing power of low and fixed-income sections of society, those who govern are taking with a ladle what they give with a spoon. They are dragging these people who are already in trouble towards poverty.”