Without question the numbers speak for themselves - both in terms of the international price of a barrel of crude and the retail price of a gallon at the pump. $110, $120, $130, $140…. 1.89, 2.29. 3.59, 4.02…..
Clock watching these days is a bit passé. Pump price watching is much more in vogue-
To be honest, this is all well and good and will hopefully lead to some necessary, if painful, changes in habit and consumption.
However, without context most of America’s recent complaints about rising gas prices become some what irrelevant and unfounded. Hear me out-
On foot, weaving through the continuously congested streets of Istanbul, I am constantly astounded by a singular number that beckons from the neon towers of all corner gas stations: 2.85 Turkish Lira per 1 Liter of Gas.
Seemingly innocuous at first glance, “hell, where I come from that number is pushing four dollars,” a quick mathematical conversion disabuses an unwitting foreigner’s naivete and reveals the true cost of living.
1 US Dollar = 1.20 Turkish Lira (granted the value fluctuates daily)
1 US Gallon = 3.78 Liters
3.78 x 2.85 (price in Turkish Lira for 1 liter) = 10.773 Turkish Lira
Thus here in Turkey, the price of ONE Gallon of Gas is 10.773 Turkish Lira
Or, to make it that much more explicit:
IN TURKEY ONE GALLON OF GAS COSTS 8.97 DOLLARS
(without splitting hairs, any where between 8 and 10 bucks).
10.773 Turkish Lira / 1.20 Turkish Lira = 8.97 USD
Yowser! How in the….? Who in their right mind…? Something needs to be done about this… I stammer, to no one as a multitude of pedestrians rushes by me on their way to work and cars queue up without a second thought at the pump---
Am I the only one who is indignant here?
That remains to be seen, but the cold, unsatisfactory answer to why gas prices are so high here in Turkey is TAXES. The government has placed such a high tax burden on gas consumption to try to dissuade the public from excessive consumption.
Judging by the middle of the day city wide traffic jam, urban infrastructure is certainly not up to par and this tax scheme hasn’t quite had its desired effect (although government coffers are pleasantly swollen).
And so it is, to the every day ordinary Turkish consumer, eight to ten dollars for a gallon of gas- indefinitely.
Ambulatory and car crazy Turks would kill to be in America’s four dollar a gallon shoes-
All situations are different but please do strive for a deeper perspective and plan accordingly.
Post script: On a brighter note- Here in Istanbul cigarettes only cost 3 -4 dollars a pack. Now, I’ll smoke to that.
