Food prices have soared worldwide during the pandemic, driven by supply chain disruptions, higher fuel costs, global shortages of fertiliser and other factors
People buy cheap, government subsidized bread from attendants inside a kiosk in Istanbul, Dec. 13, 2021. Squeezed by rising costs, price controls and plunging sales, bakers warn of ruin while their impoverished former customers line up for government-supplied loaves. (Ivor Prickett/The New York Times)
ISTANBUL — A line of glum-faced people wrapped up against the rain stood along the street outside a government bread bank in a suburb of Istanbul.
“People cannot manage,” said Sengul Essen, 57. “I worked 21 years as a cleaner at the university and now I am waiting in a bread queue.”
Turks are grappling with soaring inflation, watching prices rise daily as the lira has plunged against the dollar and their salaries and pensions no longer cover even the staples of life. Bread lines have started to appear in neighborhoods as growing numbers of people are turning to cheap, government-issued bread to fill their tables.
©2019 New York Times News Service