What will happen to this country?

Global Energy Prices Continue to Rise:

Increasing energy costs all over the world continue to hurt the masses of the people in almost every country. In addition to the fluctuating course recorded in the global commodity markets, price movements especially in the energy and food fields; It makes it difficult for world markets, which have started to revive after the pandemic, to stabilize. This situation stands as a problem that needs to be solved in front of the world economy administrations, which everyone turns their attention to.

Before the pandemic, the price of Brent oil per barrel was around 60-65 USD. The pandemic caused a decline in global production. Therefore, the demand for energy decreased. Oil prices also fell. When the economies revived after the pandemic, the barrel of oil rose above 100 USD. However, forecasts and calculations were made for the 100-110 USD band in 2022.

The Effects of the Russia-Ukraine War and the Pandemic in China:

When Putin attacked Ukraine, he ruined all calculations. The only thing that dampened the negative effects of this war was the slowdown in the production wheel of this country due to the pandemic recorded in China in the past months. This situation in the world's factory inevitably triggered the slowdown in global production. Without prejudice to the effects of the Russia-Ukraine War, the Chinese economic administration, which shunned gas at the rate of production, kept oil prices relatively low on a global scale.

Earlier this week, China took steps to ease its COVID-19 restrictions. It was something everyone expected that China, which will start to step on the gas again, will cause a rise in global energy prices again. What was unexpected is that the European Union's decision to ban almost all of the Russian crude oil flowing to Europe suddenly brought oil prices to a two-month high above 123 USD. Currently, oil is pushing around 130 USD per barrel. However, the number of similar assessments that prices will rise above this and that the economy administrations need to re-calculate accordingly has increased considerably.

Even the American economy, traditionally famous for providing cheap gas to its people, has been affected by the sharp rise in oil prices in recent years. Even in this country, the pump price of a liter of gasoline rose to an average of 1.22 USD. In California, the record for the highest pump price in the American market was broken with 1.82 USD. Unprecedented prices for the American consumer market. The average American, who doesn't know what "economy" is in terms of engine size, probably started to understand more closely what the rising oil prices mean around the world.

Along with the rising energy prices, the papers of energy companies traded on the stock exchanges also started to rise. However, while the uncertainty experienced in natural gas by the European countries, which are not willing to trade in rubles, pushes the prices upwards, the EU's decision not to import oil from Russia means that other oil and natural gas producing countries will knock on the doors to meet the energy needs of the old continent. While this attitude of Europe was seen as a necessity for the integrity of the US-led sanctions against Russia, rising energy prices became a nightmare for ordinary Europeans. Global markets are rapidly heading for a worse environment than the oil crisis of the early 1970s. For many energy-dependent countries, an economic crisis in the context of diesel, gasoline and natural gas is on the verge.

Negative Impact of Increase in Energy Prices on Turkey:

Pump prices, which are around 26 liras in Turkey, have become a nightmare for Turkish people, with an average of 1.55 USD, similar to the rest of the world. Riding a car is now considered a luxury for us Turks, who are fond of cars. Our citizens, who had to pay a higher price than the Americans, had to pay almost 250% more price tags for gasoline and diesel in the last year. Moreover, there was a 30% hike in natural gas during the daylight hours yesterday. As if that wasn't enough, an increase of 1.22 liras in gasoline and 1.49 liras in diesel was made, or in the words of fashion, price adjustments were made. No one expects this upward trend to stop in Turkey, given the rise in global energy prices that I have tried to express above. Turkish people, who have not been able to enjoy their holiday in the summer months due to the pandemic for the last two or three years, are now seriously calculating how they can sunbathe under the shadow of the pump prices in gasoline and diesel, which are hard on their pockets.

Another thing that destabilized the markets in Turkey is that, as a result of the devaluation of the exchange rate in December 2021, the Turkish currency depreciated by 50% against the USD. In other words, the value of the money in all of our pockets has plummeted. For example, while the equivalent of 4,000 lira was 500 USD, it suddenly dropped to 250 USD. Turkish people are currently at a rate of 50% or more from the exchange rate perspective only.

The exchange rate trend still continues to be negative. This adverse pressure on the exchange rate together with the rising energy prices has deteriorated the quality of life of Turkish people and their expectations for the future, and continues to do so.

This week, global markets signaled to prepare for the worse in gasoline and diesel. Turkish politics in terms of finding a solution to this and the Turkish people in terms of enduring?