06.06.2026 14:01
The Turkish Statistical Institute (TurkStat) announced May inflation data. Consumer prices (CPI) increased by 1.71 percent month-on-month in May. Annual inflation reached 32.61 percent. The inflation rate of 16.61 percent in the first five months of this year was 1.52 percentage points above the 15.09 percent recorded in the same period last year. Pensions, worker and civil servant salaries, and the minimum wage eroded faster than last year.
High inflation continues to erode incomes. At the beginning of this year, worker and BAĞ-KUR (self-employed) retirement pensions were increased by 12.19 percent. Inflation of 16.61 percent realized in the January-May period exceeded the raise given to worker and BAĞ-KUR retirees at the start of the year by 4.4 percentage points. Retirees' incomes have diminished. This erosion will continue until July, when a new raise is expected to be on the agenda.
The lowest retirement pension was raised to 20,000 TL at the beginning of the year through a legal regulation. In the first five months of the year, the lowest retirement pension eroded by approximately 3,322 TL.
INCOME OF CIVIL SERVANTS AND CIVIL SERVANT RETIREES IS ALSO ERODING
Civil servant salaries and civil servant retirement pensions were increased by 11 percent in the first half of this year, separate from the inflation difference. The erosion in the income of civil servants and civil servant retirees is deepening. In this context, the lowest civil servant salary, including spouse and child allowances, which was 61,890 TL, has eroded by 10,280 TL in the first five months of the year.
EROSION IN THE MINIMUM WAGE
Effective from January this year, the minimum wage became 28,075 TL. The erosion in the minimum wage during the January-May period amounted to 4,663 TL.