Crash of Turkish Lira affects business in Zakho
Since the crash of the Turkish Lira against the US dollar few from neighboring Turkey come to Zakho across the border for shopping. They used to come here regularly to buy cigarettes, coffee, tea and food, but now their Turkish Lira isn't worth much. The Kurdish shop owners don't know how to deal with the situation either because of the constant fluctuation of the Turkish Lira.
Haji Omar, a shop owner, says, "We are close to the (Turkish) border. The Turks used to come a lot to Zakho. Before now, no matter how expensive the prices were, they (Turks) were buying from here. Now they don't do it anymore, because their money has dropped. For example 100 US dollars is worth now 700 million (Turkish Lira), they can't afford to buy it, yeah."
The Turkish currency lost more than 40% of its value when the US raised the tariffs on Turkish exports to the United States (steel by 50% and aluminium by 20%). Tensions between the two countries escalated over the imprisonment of American Pastor Andrew Brunson in Turkey.
Haji Omar, a shop owner, says, "We are close to the (Turkish) border. The Turks used to come a lot to Zakho. Before now, no matter how expensive the prices were, they (Turks) were buying from here. Now they don't do it anymore, because their money has dropped. For example 100 US dollars is worth now 700 million (Turkish Lira), they can't afford to buy it, yeah."
The Turkish currency lost more than 40% of its value when the US raised the tariffs on Turkish exports to the United States (steel by 50% and aluminium by 20%). Tensions between the two countries escalated over the imprisonment of American Pastor Andrew Brunson in Turkey.